Country name:
conventional long form: United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
conventional short form: United Kingdom
abbreviation: UK
Government type:
constitutional monarchy
Capital:
London
Administrative divisions:
England - 47 boroughs, 36 counties*, 29 London boroughs**, 12
cities and boroughs***, 10 districts****, 12 cities*****, 3 royal
boroughs******; Barking and Dagenham**, Barnet**, Barnsley, Bath and
North East Somerset****, Bedfordshire*, Bexley**, Birmingham***,
Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bournemouth, Bracknell
Forest, Bradford***, Brent**, Brighton and Hove, City of
Bristol*****, Bromley**, Buckinghamshire*, Bury, Calderdale,
Cambridgeshire*, Camden**, Cheshire*, Cornwall*, Coventry***,
Croydon**, Cumbria*, Darlington, Derby*****, Derbyshire*, Devon*,
Doncaster, Dorset*, Dudley, Durham*, Ealing**, East Riding of
Yorkshire****, East Sussex*, Enfield**, Essex*, Gateshead,
Gloucestershire*, Greenwich**, Hackney**, Halton, Hammersmith and
Fulham**, Hampshire*, Haringey**, Harrow**, Hartlepool, Havering**,
Herefordshire*, Hertfordshire*, Hillingdon**, Hounslow**, Isle of
Wight*, Islington**, Kensington and Chelsea******, Kent*, City of
Kingston upon Hull*****, Kingston upon Thames******, Kirklees,
Knowsley, Lambeth**, Lancashire*, Leeds***, Leicester*****,
Leicestershire*, Lewisham**, Lincolnshire*, Liverpool***, City of
London*****, Luton, Manchester***, Medway, Merton**, Middlesbrough,
Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne***, Newham**, Norfolk*,
Northamptonshire*, North East Lincolnshire****, North
Lincolnshire****, North Somerset****, North Tyneside,
Northumberland*, North Yorkshire*, Nottingham*****,
Nottinghamshire*, Oldham, Oxfordshire*, Peterborough*****,
Plymouth*****, Poole, Portsmouth*****, Reading, Redbridge**, Redcar
and Cleveland, Richmond upon Thames**, Rochdale, Rotherham,
Rutland****, Salford***, Shropshire*, Sandwell, Sefton,
Sheffield***, Slough, Solihull, Somerset*, Southampton*****,
Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire****, South Tyneside,
Southwark**, Staffordshire*, St. Helens, Stockport,
Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent*****, Suffolk*, Sunderland***,
Surrey*, Sutton**, Swindon, Tameside, Telford and Wrekin****,
Thurrock, Torbay, Tower Hamlets**, Trafford, Wakefield***, Walsall,
Waltham Forest**, Wandsworth**, Warrington, Warwickshire*, West
Berkshire****, Westminster***, West Sussex*, Wigan, Wiltshire*,
Windsor and Maidenhead******, Wirral, Wokingham****, Wolverhampton,
Worcestershire*, York*****; Northern Ireland - 24 districts, 2
cities*, 6 counties**; Antrim, County Antrim**, Ards, Armagh, County
Armagh**, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast*, Carrickfergus,
Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down, County Down**,
Dungannon, Fermanagh, County Fermanagh**, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn,
County Londonderry**, Derry*, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne,
Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh, Strabane, County Tyrone**; Scotland
- 32 council areas; Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and
Bute, The Scottish Borders, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway,
Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East
Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City,
Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North
Lanarkshire, Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire,
Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West
Dunbartonshire, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), West Lothian; Wales -
11 county boroughs, 9 counties*, 2 cities and counties**; Isle of
Anglesey*, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff**,
Ceredigion*, Carmarthenshire*, Conwy, Denbighshire*, Flintshire*,
Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire*, Neath Port Talbot, Newport,
Pembrokeshire*, Powys*, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea**, Torfaen, The
Vale of Glamorgan*, Wrexham
Dependent areas:
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin
Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey,
Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena,
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos
Islands
Independence:
England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th century; the
union between England and Wales, begun in 1284 with the Statute of
Rhuddlan, was not formalized until 1536 with an Act of Union; in
another Act of Union in 1707, England and Scotland agreed to
permanently join as Great Britain; the legislative union of Great
Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the adoption of
the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; the
Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six
northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as
Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927
National holiday:
Official Birthday of Queen ELIZABETH II, celebrated on the second
Saturday in June (1926)
Constitution:
unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice
Legal system:
common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental
influences; has judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the
Human Rights Act of 1998; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations
Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); Heir
Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen, born 14 November 1948)
head of government: Prime Minister Anthony (Tony) BLAIR (since 2 May
1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: none; the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative
elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the
majority coalition is usually the prime minister
Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament comprised of House of Lords (consists of
approximately 500 life peers, 92 hereditary peers and 26 clergy) and
House of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to
serve five-year terms unless the House is dissolved earlier)
elections: House of Lords - no elections (note - in 1999, as
provided by the House of Lords Act, elections were held in the House
of Lords to determine the 92 hereditary peers who would remain
there; pending further reforms, elections are held only as vacancies
in the hereditary peerage arise); House of Commons - last held 7
June 2001 (next to be held by NA May 2006)
election results: House of Commons - percent of vote by party -
Labor 42.1%, Conservative and Unionist 32.7%, Liberal Democrats
18.8%, other 6.4%; seats by party - Labor 412, Conservative and
Unionist 166, Liberal Democrat 52, other 29; note - seating as of 15
February 2002: Labor 410, Conservative 164, Liberal Democrats 53,
other 32
note: in 1998 elections were held for a Northern Ireland Parliament
(because of unresolved disputes among existing parties, the transfer
of power from London to Northern Ireland came only at the end of
1999 and has been rescinded three times the latest occurring in
October 2002; since October 2002 the Northern Ireland Parliament has
been suspended); in 1999 there were elections for a new Scottish
Parliament and a new Welsh Assembly
Judicial branch:
House of Lords (highest court of appeal; several Lords of Appeal in
Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life); Supreme Courts of
England, Wales, and Northern Ireland (comprising the Courts of
Appeal, the High Courts of Justice, and the Crown Courts);
Scotland's Court of Session and Court of the Justiciary
Political parties and leaders:
Conservative and Unionist Party [Michael HOWARD]; Democratic
Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [Rev. Ian PAISLEY]; Labor Party
[Anthony (Tony) BLAIR]; Liberal Democrats [Charles KENNEDY]; Party
of Wales (Plaid Cymru) [Ieuan Wyn Jones]; Scottish National Party or
SNP [John SWINNEY]; Sinn Fein (Northern Ireland) [Gerry ADAMS];
Social Democratic and Labor Party or SDLP (Northern Ireland) [Mark
DURKAN]; Ulster Unionist Party (Northern Ireland) [David TRIMBLE]
Political pressure groups and leaders:
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; Confederation of British
Industry; National Farmers' Union; Trades Union Congress
International organization participation:
AfDB, AsDB, Australia Group, BIS, C, CDB, CE, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, ECA
(associate), ECE, ECLAC, EIB, ESA, ESCAP, EU, FAO, G- 5, G- 7, G- 8,
G-10, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IEA,
IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU,
MONUC, NAM (guest), NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OPCW,
OSCE, PCA, SPC, UN, UN Security Council, UNAMSIL, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOVIC,
UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNU, UPU, WCL, WCO, WEU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador David G. MANNING
chancery: 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
FAX: [1] (202) 588-7870
consulate(s): Dallas, Denver, Miami, and Seattle
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los
Angeles, New York, and San Francisco
telephone: [1] (202) 588-6500
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador William S. FARISH
embassy: 24/31 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A1AE
mailing address: PSC 801, Box 40, FPO AE 09498-4040
telephone: [44] (0) 7499-9000
FAX: [44] (0) 7629-9124
consulate(s) general: Belfast, Edinburgh
Flag description:
blue field with the red cross of Saint George (patron saint of
England) edged in white superimposed on the diagonal red cross of
Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on
the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland);
properly known as the Union Flag, but commonly called the Union
Jack; the design and colors (especially the Blue Ensign) have been
the basis for a number of other flags including other Commonwealth
countries and their constituent states or provinces, as well as
British overseas territories