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| 1968 |
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| Immigration levels to Great Britain had risen sharply since 1948. Between 1951 and 1961, the enumerated population that was of West Indian, Indian, Pakistani, and Far Eastern origin rose from 63,100 to 297,700. Though immigration laws were tightened in 1962, problems relating to the integration of immigrant populations into British society continued. On April 23, 1968, Parliament passed the Race Relations Act prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and such on the basis of color, race, or national origin. Still, growing popular resentment at the continued influx of immigrants to Great Britain resulted in protests and demonstrations. | 1 |
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| April 23 |
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| First decimal coinage went into circulation as legal tender; full changeover to decimal currency was set to take place on Feb. 15, 1971 (Decimal Day, or “D-Day”). | 2 |
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| Oct. 5 |
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| The growing crisis in Northern Ireland was marked by civil rights riots in Londonderry, where the Catholic majority claimed that rank discrimination was practiced by the Protestant-controlled local government in matters of employment, housing, and the like. Tension had been rising since the summer of 1966, when the Reverend Ian Paisley and his ultra-Protestant Free Presbyterian Church had denounced any concessions to Roman Catholics and staged a riot in Belfast. | 3 |
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| Oct. 16 |
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| The Commonwealth Office was merged with the Foreign Office to form the new Foreign and Commonwealth Office. | 4 |
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| Oct. 27 |
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| A large-scale and mostly peaceful demonstration against the Vietnam War was held in London; it represented one of a series of student demonstrations protesting U.S. policy in Southeast Asia as well as problems in the university system. | 5 |
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| Nov. 22 |
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| The Belfast government's program of moderate reforms again aroused the opposition of Paisley and his extremists. | 6 |
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