The Government of United Kingdom - The World Countries

United Kingdom - Government

Based on the etymolgy of United Kingdom, it was self-descriptive country name; the designation "Great Britain," in the sense of "Larger Britain," dates back to medieval times and was used to distinguish the island from "Little Britain," or Brittany in modern France; the name Ireland derives from the Gaelic "Eriu," the matron goddess of Ireland (goddess of the land). The Government system in this country is the parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm type and the different Administrative divisions includes:

England: 24 two-tier counties, 32 London boroughs and 1 City of London or Greater London, 36 metropolitan districts, 59 unitary authorities (including 4 single-tier counties*);

two-tier counties: Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Worcestershire

London boroughs and City of London or Greater London: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, City of London, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster

metropolitan districts: Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury, Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowlsey, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton

unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset; Bedford; Blackburn with Darwen; Blackpool; Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Bracknell Forest; Brighton and Hove; City of Bristol; Buckinghamshire; Central Bedfordshire; Cheshire East; Cheshire West and Chester; Cornwall; Darlington; Derby; Dorset; Durham County*; East Riding of Yorkshire; Halton; Hartlepool; Herefordshire*; Isle of Wight*; Isles of Scilly; City of Kingston upon Hull; Leicester; Luton; Medway; Middlesbrough; Milton Keynes; North East Lincolnshire; North Lincolnshire; North Northamptonshire; North Somerset; Northumberland*; Nottingham; Peterborough; Plymouth; Portsmouth; Reading; Redcar and Cleveland; Rutland; Shropshire; Slough; South Gloucestershire; Southampton; Southend-on-Sea; Stockton-on-Tees; Stoke-on-Trent; Swindon; Telford and Wrekin; Thurrock; Torbay; Warrington; West Berkshire; West Northamptonshire; Wiltshire; Windsor and Maidenhead; Wokingham; York

Northern Ireland: 5 borough councils, 4 district councils, 2 city councils;

borough councils: Antrim and Newtownabbey; Ards and North Down; Armagh City, Banbridge, and Craigavon; Causeway Coast and Glens; Mid and East Antrim

district councils: Derry City and Strabane; Fermanagh and Omagh; Mid Ulster; Newry, Murne, and Down

city councils: Belfast; Lisburn and Castlereagh

Scotland: 32 council areas;

council areas: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), 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, The Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian

Wales: 22 unitary authorities;

unitary authorities: Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, The Vale of Glamorgan, Torfaen, Wrexham

National symbols

Lion (Britain in general); lion, Tudor rose, oak (England); lion, unicorn, thistle (Scotland); dragon, daffodil, leek (Wales); shamrock, flax (Northern Ireland); national colors: red, white, blue (Britain in general); red, white (England); blue, white (Scotland); red, white, green (Wales).

The flag

The National flag of United Kingdom has 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, and British overseas territories.

The National Anthem

Title	"God Save the King"
Lyric/music	unknown

note: in use since 1745; by tradition, the song serves as both the national and royal anthem of the UK; it is known as either "God Save the Queen" or "God Save the King," depending on the gender of the reigning monarch; it also serves as the royal anthem of many Commonwealth nations

More about the government of United Kingdom

Constitution
Date of Independence	no official date of independence: 927 (minor English kingdoms unite); 3 March 1284 (enactment of the Statute of Rhuddlan uniting England and Wales); 1536 (Act of Union formally incorporates England and Wales); 1 May 1707 (Acts of Union formally unite England, Scotland, and Wales as Great Britain); 1 January 1801 (Acts of Union formally unite Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland); 6 December 1921 (Anglo-Irish Treaty formalizes partition of Ireland; six counties remain part of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland); 12 April 1927 (Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act establishes current name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)
National holiday	the UK does not celebrate one particular national holiday
Legal system	common law system; has nonbinding judicial review of Acts of Parliament under the Human Rights Act of 1998
International law organization participation	accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
History	Uncoded; partly statutes, partly common law and practice
Amendments	Proposed as a bill for an Act of Parliament by the government, by the House of Commons, or by the House of Lords; passage requires agreement by both houses and by the monarch (Royal Assent); many previous, last in 2020 - The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020
Citizenship
Citizenship by birth	no
Citizenship by descent only	at least one parent must be a citizen of the United Kingdom
Dual citizenship recognized	yes
Residency requirement for naturalization	5 years
Executive Branch
Chief of state	King CHARLES III (since 8 September 2022)
Head of government	Prime Minister Keir STARMER (Labor) (since 5 July 2024)
Cabinet	Cabinet appointed by the prime minister
Elections/appointments	the monarchy is hereditary; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or majority coalition usually becomes the prime minister; election last held on 12 December 2019 (next to be held no later than 28 January 2025)
Legislative branch
Description	Bicameral Parliament consists of: House of Lords (membership not fixed; as of December 2023, 784 lords were eligible to participate in the work of the House of Lords - 667 life peers, 91 hereditary peers, and 26 clergy; members are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister and non-party political members recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission); note - House of Lords total does not include ineligible members or members on leave of absence House of Commons (650 seats; members directly elected in single-seat constituencies by simple majority popular vote to serve 5-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; elections held only as vacancies in the hereditary peerage arise) House of Commons - last held on 4 July 2024 (next to be held 4 July 2029)
Election results	House of Lords - composition - men 556, women 228, percentage women 29% House of Commons - percent of vote by party - Labor 33.7%, Conservative 23.7%, Lib Dems 12.2%, Green 6.7%, SNP 2.5%, independents 2.0%, Sinn Fein .7%, Plaid Cymru .7%, Workers Party .7%, DUP .6%, other 2.9%; seats by party - Labor 411, Conservative 121, Lib Dems 72, SNP 9, Sinn Fein 7, independents 6, DUP 5, Reform UK 5, Green 4, Plaid Cymru 4, SDLP 2, other 4; composition - men 387, women 263, percentage women 40.3%
Judicial branch
Highest court(s)	Supreme Court (consists of 12 justices, including the court president and deputy president); note - the Supreme Court was established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and implemented in 2009, replacing the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as the highest court in the United Kingdom
Judge selection and term of office	Judge candidates selected by an independent committee of several judicial commissions, followed by their recommendations to the prime minister, and appointed by the monarch; justices serve for life
Subordinate courts	England and Wales: Court of Appeal (civil and criminal divisions); High Court; Crown Court; County Courts; Magistrates' Courts; Scotland: Court of Sessions; Sheriff Courts; High Court of Justiciary; tribunals; Northern Ireland: Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland; High Court; county courts; magistrates' courts; specialized tribunals
Diplomatic representation in the US
Chief of mission	Ambassador Karen Elizabeth PIERCE (since 8 April 2020)
Chancery	3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008
Telephone	[1] (202) 588-6500
FAX	[1] (202) 588-7870
Email address and website	[email protected] https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-washington
Consulate(s) general	Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco
Diplomatic representation from the US
Chief of mission	Ambassador Jane HARTLEY (since 19 July 2022)
Embassy	33 Nine Elms Lane, London, SW11 7US
Mailing address	8400 London Place, Washington DC 20521-8400
Telephone	[44] (0) 20-7499-9000
FAX	[44] (0) 20-7891-3845
Email address and website	[email protected] https://uk.usembassy.gov/
Consulate(s) general	Belfast, Edinburgh
National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites	33 (28 cultural, 4 natural, 1 mixed); note - includes one site in Bermuda
Selected World Heritage Site locales	Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast (n); Ironbridge Gorge (c); Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites (c); Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd (c); Blenheim Palace (c); City of Bath (c); Tower of London (c); St Kilda (m); Maritime Greenwich (c); Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (c); Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (c); The English Lake District (c)

Key Political parties and their leaders in United Kingdom

International organization participation

ADB (nonregional member)

AfDB (nonregional member)

Arctic Council (observer)

Australia Group

BIS

CBSS (observer)

CDB

CERN

EAPC

EBRD

ECB

EIB

EITI (implementing country)

ESA

FAO

FATF

G-5

G-7

G-8

G-10

G-20

IADB

IAEA

IBRD

ICAO

ICC (national committees)

ICCt

ICRM

IDA

IEA

IFAD

IFC

IFRCS

IGAD (partners)

IHO

ILO

IMF

IMO

IMSO

Interpol

IOC

IOM

IPU

ISO

ITSO

ITU

ITUC (NGOs)

MIGA

MONUSCO

NATO

NEA

NSG

OAS (observer)

OECD

OPCW

OSCE

Pacific Alliance (observer)

Paris Club

PCA

PIF (partner)

SELEC (observer)

SICA (observer)

UNCTAD

UNESCO

UNFICYP

UNHCR

UNMISS

UNOOSA

UNRWA

UN Security Council (permanent)

UNSOM

UPU

Wassenaar Arrangement

WCO

WHO

WIPO

WMO

WTO

All Important Facts about United Kingdom

Want to know more about United Kingdom? Check all different factbooks for United Kingdom below.

United Kingdom is found in Northern Europe