Administrative geography of the United Kingdom
The administrative geography of the United Kingdom is intricate, layered, and inconsistent across its constituent nations. The country also has complex and inconsistent municipal structure. As a sovereign state located northwest of continental Europe, the United Kingdom comprises England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Each of these nations operates its own distinct system of local government and territorial divisions. As a result, there is no single, unified layer of administrative units that spans the entire United Kingdom.
As there is no written document that comprehensively encompasses the British constitution, and owing to a convoluted history of the formation of the United Kingdom, a variety of terms are used to refer to its constituent parts, which are sometimes called the four countries of the United Kingdom. The four are sometimes collectively referred to as the Home Nations, particularly in sporting contexts. Although the four countries are important for legal and governmental purposes, they are not comparable to administrative subdivisions of most other countries.
The United Kingdom also contains 17 [|dependent territories] which are not officially a part of the UK but are represented by it in places like the UN.
Historically, the subnational divisions of the UK have been the county and the ecclesiastical parish, while following the emergence of a unified parliament of the United Kingdom, the ward and constituency have been pan-UK political subdivisions. More contemporary divisions include Lieutenancy areas and the statistical territories defined with the modern International Territorial Level and ISO 3166-2:GB systems.
History
This structure was formed by the union agreed between the former sovereign states, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland in the Treaty of Union and enacted by the Acts of Union 1707 to form the single Kingdom of Great Britain ; followed by the Act of Union 1800, which combined 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, following the partition of Ireland, resulted in the present-day 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, while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a separate legal system.
Northern Ireland was the first part of the British Isles to have a devolved government, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and that continued until the Parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended in 1972. After a period of direct rule by the Westminster government and some abortive attempts at reinstating devolved government during the Troubles, the present-day Northern Ireland Assembly was established in 1998, and is currently in operation following a number of periods of suspension. The complex history of Northern Ireland has led to differing views as to its status. The term "Province" is often used by unionist and British commentators to refer to Northern Ireland, but not by nationalists.
Overview
Following Brexit the UK ONS replaced the EU NUTS1 regional model with its own International Territorial Level model, continuing the treatment of the 3 Home Nations alongside the 9 Regions of England.;Notes
The markers above link to relevant articles where available.
By constituent country
England
England has no devolved national legislature or government. Matters devolved to the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are held by Parliament and executed by the UK Government.England itself has an intricate, layered, and inconsistent system of administrative divisions, which largely originate from the major restructuring of local government in 1972. Outside the London region and the Isles of Scilly, the entirety of England is divided into counties and districts of local government purposes. Local government counties are either classified as metropolitan or non-metropolitan. While every area is legally part of a county, all metropolitan counties and some non-metropolitan counties do not have any administrative body; in these cases, the functions that would otherwise be undertaken by a county council are instead undertaken by a single, or untiary, authority.
London conversely is divided into 32 boroughs, which make up Greater London, and the City of London, which has unique governance arrangements compared to the rest of England. London also has the Greater London Authority, and a directly elected Mayor of London. The Isles of Scilly also have unique governance arrangements. County, district and unitary authorities are sometimes grouped with London borough councils and the Isle of Scilly council as principal authorities.
In many areas, there are civil parishes with parish or town councils. Parished areas cover most of England but they are not universal and are not as common in larger urban areas. Areas not within a civil parish are called unparished areas.
Some areas sit within a combined authority area. A combined authority is not a local authority in its own right, but an established legal body that covers multiple principal local authority areas. In some cases, these align with a local government county or otherwise combine multiple districts and counties together. Other cooperative structures that span local government areas, like joint local planning or waste collection, informally create additional local government geographies.
Some local services, such as policing, fire and rescue and health, are delivered along different geographical lines than the area a principal local authority covers. In this case, the service will be delivered by a different authority from the principal local authority.
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 11 districts, which are unitary authorities.
Northern Ireland is divided into six traditional counties. Though widely used, these no longer serve any administrative purpose.
Scotland
Scotland has a devolved legislature, the Scottish Parliament, with a government, the Scottish Government, since 1999. The Scottish Government is headed by the First Minister of Scotland who is responsible for all areas of decision making, government policy as well as the international engagement of Scotland. The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 elected Members of the Scottish Parliament, with the population of Scotland being represented by a number of 8 MSPs. The Scottish Parliament consists of two types of MSPs – a constituency MSP who represents the local area, and seven regional list MSPs who collectively represent the larger area that includes any given constituency.The Scottish Parliament meets at Holyrood, located in the capital city of Edinburgh. Edinburgh is also the seat of Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister, as well as the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. The highest courts in Scotland operating under the countries legal system – the High Court of Justiciary and the Court of Session – are based at Parliament House, Edinburgh.
For local government, Scotland has 32 council areas. 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.
Wales
Wales has an elected, devolved legislature, the Senedd, from which the Welsh Government is drawn.For local government, Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities: 10 county boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Below these are community councils, which have powers similar to those of English parish councils.
The 22 unitary authorities are grouped into preserved counties, which are used for ceremonial purposes. Although based on the counties used for local government between 1974 and 1996, they no longer have an administrative function.
Democratic representation
Parliaments
Each of the 650 electoral areas or divisions called constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom has, since 1950, elected one Member of Parliament to represent it at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Before 1950, some constituencies elected two or more MPs using the plurality bloc vote system, and before the Reform Act 1832 nearly all constituencies in England returned two MPs.The devolved Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Senedd both use an additional member system of elections, which combines single-member constituencies with multi-member electoral regions.
Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are held under the single transferable vote system, in 18 multi-member constituencies.