Subdivisions of the United Kingdom
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The subdivisions of the United Kingdom are complex, multi-layered and non-uniform, varying between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They have developed into the current structure over hundreds of years. The United Kingdom is a political union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These are commonly termed nations or countries, though Wales is also referred to as a principality and Northern Ireland as a province. Calling Northern Ireland a country is disputed, particularly within the nationalist community.[citation needed]
This structure was formed by the union agreed between the former sovereign states, the Kingdom of England (which included the conquered principality of Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland by the Acts of Union 1707, to form the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1800); followed by the Act of Union 1800, which united Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, and the partition of Ireland, resulted in the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Wales was incorporated into the English legal system through the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 the earlier Statute of Rhuddlan having restricted but not abolished Welsh Law following the Edwardian conquest in 1282. As a result England and Wales are treated as a single entity for some purposes, principally that they share a legal system (see English law), while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a separate legal system (see Scots Law and Northern Ireland law).
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[edit] England
England has no devolved legislature or government covering the whole country. It is divided into nine regions.
The London region, known as Greater London, is further divided into the City of London and 32 London boroughs. This is administered by the Greater London Authority.
The other regions made up of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties and unitary authorities. The counties are further divided into districts (which can be called cities, boroughs, royal boroughs, metropolitan boroughs or districts). The unitary authorities effectively combine the functions of counties and districts.
Below the district level, civil parishes exist, though not uniformly. Parish or town councils exist for villages and small towns; they only rarely for communities within urban areas. They are prevented from existing within Greater London.
Commonly, though not administratively, England's geography is divided into ceremonial counties (also known as the geographic counties), which closely mirror the traditional counties. Each ceremonial county has a Lord Lieutenant, who is the monarch's representative.
[edit] Scotland
Scotland has a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, with a government, known as the Scottish Government since 2007. This is legally referred to as the Scottish Executive in the Scotland Act 1998 and by the UK Government.
Below the national level, Scotland has 32 council areas (unitary authorities). Below this uniform level of subdivision, there are varying levels of area committees in the larger rural council areas, and many small community councils throughout the country, although these are not universal. Scottish community councils have few if any powers beyond being a forum for raising issues of concern.
[edit] Wales
Wales has an elected, devolved assembly, the National Assembly for Wales, along with the Welsh Assembly Government.
Below the national level, Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities: 10 county boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Below these are community councils, which have powers similar to English parish councils.
[edit] Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has the Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive established under the Good Friday Agreement. During periods where the devolved institutions were suspended, executive government in Northern Ireland was administered directly by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and laws made in the United Kingdom Parliament - known as "direct rule" in contrast to devolution.
For local government, Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts, which are unitary authorities.
Northern Ireland is divided into six traditional counties. Though widely used, these no longer serve any administrative purpose.
[edit] Informal divisions
There are also many informal, historical and special purpose regional designations. Some such as the Highlands of Scotland have or have had, to some extent, formal boundaries. Others such as the London commuter belt are more diffuse. Some such as Snowdonia (Eryri) have a formal boundary in some contexts; in this case as a National Park. Others such as The Fens of eastern England are quite distinctly defined by geography but do not form any official entity.
[edit] International subdivisions
Both Eurostat and the International Organization for Standardization have developed a subdivision and codes for the UK. See NUTS:UK and ISO 3166-2:GB.
[edit] See also
- British Isles (terminology)
- Crown dependencies
- British overseas territories
- List of subnational entities
- Office for National Statistics coding system for counties, districts, wards and census areas
- Etymological list of counties of the United Kingdom
[edit] References
- CIA World Fact Book 2002
[edit] External links
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