Review of the year, part 2: Supreme Court judges issue ruling on definition of 'woman' as gender row rages

Donald Trump announced 10 per cent tariffs on UK imports as he claimed the US bad been taken advantage of by other countries for decades. In an event the US president dubbed “Liberation Day”, Mr Trump unveiled tariffs on nations around the world. The 10 per cent set for the UK was the lowest and compared with 20 per cent set for the European Union. He also announced a 25 per cent tariff on all foreign cars imported to the US – a move experts said could cost the British car industry 25,000 jobs.

A baby girl was the first child in the UK to be born from a womb transplant. Mother Grace Davidson received the organ from her older sister Amy in 2023. Baby Amy Isabel was born in London by Caesarean section and named after her aunt and the surgeon who helped perfect the technique.

The Scottish Government lost a high profile case at the UK Supreme Court, where judged ruled the terms “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 “refer to a biological woman and biological sex”. Campaign group For Women Scotland said the victory was a “watershed” moment, as the Equality and Human Rights Commission said the ruling would have “significant implications”, including on single sex spaces and who can access them.

A power outage struck Spain, Portugal and parts of France. Subway and railway trains were halted, phone services were unavailable, and cash machines stopped working for many of the 50 million people who live across the peninsula. Spain's traffic department asked citizens to avoid using their cars as much as possible because of the power outage, which has affected traffic lights and electrical road signage. A terror attack was ruled out as the cause of the outage.

May

Reform UK made significant gains in local elections across England, taking hundreds of seats and control of several councils. Speaking in County Durham, where Reform replaced Labour as the largest party, leader Nigel Farage said the results marked “the end of two-party politics” and “the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party”. In the wake of the results, First Minister John Swinney said there is a “very real possibility” Mr Farage could be the UK’s next prime minister.

The King and Queen watched an RAF flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace to commemorate VE Day, 80 years after George VI first marked the end of the Second World War from the same location. Members of the Royal Family say with veterans as the servicemen and women, including Nato allies, marched past. The King’s naval No. 1 dress uniform reflected the outfit worn by his grandfather George VI on VE Day on May 8 1945.

Mr Swinney scrapped peak rail fares “for good” and vowed to offer and extra 100,000 GP appointments in his Programme for Government. The First Minister also promised “no further divergence from the UK on income tax” until next year’s election, with a vow that “the majority of Scottish taxpayers continue to pay less income tax than those in the rest of the UK”.

Leo XIV became the first American Pope, appearing on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in front of jubilant crowds in the Vatican. He is the 267th Pope, the religious leader of some 1.4 billion Catholics across the globe and someone believed to be called as the successor to St Peter, who was the first. In his first words as Pope, the new pontiff told the adoring crowd: "Peace be with you".

Scotland's assisted dying bill passed its first legislative hurdle as MSPs voted in favour of the general principles of the law. In a historic move, MSPs approved the concept of giving people "more choice, compassion and dignity at the end of life" by backing assisted dying at the third attempt.

June

SNP ministers were accused of burying their heads in the sand over the "emergency" facing North Sea oil and gas jobs as a new report warned the workforce could shrink by 400 jobs - the same number lost as a result of the closure of the Grangemouth refinery - every two weeks for the next five years unless urgent action is taken. Research by Robert Gordon University found the UK risks losing tens of thousands of offshore energy jobs by 2030. However, Alasdair Allan, the acting minister for climate action, said most of the key policy levers for the North Sea sector are reserved to the UK government.

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The SNP accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of leaving the Scottish Government “short-changed” - despite her announcement of a record £52 billion funding package for Holyrood in her Spending Review. She unveiled the devolution settlement in a speech in which she also confirmed funding for the Acorn carbon capture and storage project at St Fergus in Aberdeenshire, as well as the reinstatement of up to £750 million to build the UK's most powerful supercomputer at Edinburgh University. Scottish Finance Secretary Shona Robison said the overall funding increase did not match that of Whitehall departments, and that Scotland had missed out on more than £1bn.

Fifty-two Britons were among 241 people killed on board an Air India plane that crashed seconds after take-off in a spectacular fireball. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was carrying 242 people in total, crashed into a medical college near Ahmedabad International Airport in India. British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, was the only survivor from the flight travelling to London Gatwick airport. Air India said there were also 169 Indian nationals, one Canadian national and seven Portuguese nationals on the plane, as well as 12 crew.

The BBC came under fire from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer after chants at the Glastonbury music festival calling for “death” to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) were broadcast. Punk duo Bob Vylan led crowds in the chants, while a member of Irish rap trio Kneecap used the act’s own performance to suggest fans “start a riot” at his bandmate’s forthcoming court appearance.