Theadministrative geography of the United Kingdom is intricate, layered, and inconsistent across its constituent nations. As a sovereign state located northwest ofcontinental Europe, theUnited Kingdom comprisesEngland,Northern Ireland,Scotland, andWales. Each of these nations operates its own distinct system oflocal government andterritorial divisions. As a result, there is no single, unified layer of administrative units that spans the entire United Kingdom.[1]
As there is no written document that comprehensively encompasses theBritish constitution, and owing to a convolutedhistory of the formation of the United Kingdom, a variety of terms are used to refer to its constituent parts, which are sometimes called the fourcountries of the United Kingdom.[2] The four are sometimes collectively referred to as theHome 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.[why?]
The United Kingdom also contains 17dependent 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 thecounty[3] and theecclesiastical parish, while following the emergence of a unifiedparliament of the United Kingdom, theward andconstituency have been pan-UK political subdivisions. More contemporary divisions includeLieutenancy areas and the statistical territories defined with the modernInternational Territorial Level (formerlyNUTS) andISO 3166-2:GB systems.
This structure was formed by theunion agreed between the formersovereign states, theKingdom of England (including thePrincipality of Wales) and theKingdom of Scotland in theTreaty of Union and enacted by theActs of Union 1707 to form the singleKingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800); followed by theAct of Union 1800, which combined Great Britain with theKingdom of Ireland to form theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Theindependence of theIrish Free State in 1922, following thepartition of Ireland, resulted in the present-dayUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Wales was incorporated into the English legal system through theLaws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, the earlierStatute of Rhuddlan having restricted but not abolished Welsh Law following theEdwardian 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 (seeEnglish law), while Scotland and Northern Ireland each have a separate legal system (seeScots Law andNorthern Ireland law).[4]
Northern Ireland was the first part of the British Isles to have adevolved government, under theGovernment of Ireland Act 1920, and that continued until theParliament of Northern Ireland was suspended in 1972. After a period ofdirect rule by the Westminster government and some abortive attempts at reinstating devolved government during theTroubles, the present-dayNorthern 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 byunionist and British commentators to refer to Northern Ireland, but not bynationalists.[5]
FollowingBrexit the UKONS replaced theEUNUTS1 regional model with its ownInternational Territorial Level model, continuing the treatment of the 3Home Nations alongside the 9Regions of England.
| Sovereign State | United Kingdom[L] | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constituent country | England (without devolution) | Wales[L] | Scotland[L] | Northern Ireland[L] | |||||
| Authority area | Greater London Authority andcombined authority areas,[C] other areas | ||||||||
| (with devolution) | |||||||||
| Lieutenancy area | Ceremonial counties | Preserved counties | Lieutenancy areas | Lieutenancy areas | |||||
| County type | Non-metropolitan | Metropolitan | Unique | ||||||
| County council area | Two-tier council area[C] | Unitary authority areas[C][U] | None | None | City of London[C] | Isles of Scilly[C][S] | Principal areas[C] | Council areas[C] | Districts[C] |
| District | Non-metropolitan districts[B][C] | Metropolitan boroughs[B][C] | London boroughs[C] | ||||||
| Parish | Civil parishes[C][T] | None | Civil parishes | Communities[M] | Communities[V] | (Civil parishes)[W] | |||
The markers above link to relevant articles where available.
Northern Ireland has theNorthern Ireland Assembly andNorthern Ireland Executive established under theGood Friday Agreement. During periods where the devolved institutions were suspended, executive government in Northern Ireland was administered directly by theSecretary of State for Northern Ireland and laws made in theUnited Kingdom Parliament – known as"direct rule" in contrast todevolution.
For local government, Northern Ireland is divided into 11districts, which are unitary authorities.
Northern Ireland is divided into six traditionalcounties. Though widely used, these no longer serve any administrative purpose.
Scotland has a devolvedlegislature, theScottish Parliament, with a government, theScottish Government, since 1999. The Scottish Government is headed by theFirst Minister of Scotland who is responsible for all areas of decision making, government policy as well as theinternational engagement of Scotland.[6] The Scottish Parliament is made up of 129 electedMembers of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), 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.[7]
The Scottish Parliament meets atHolyrood, located in the capital city ofEdinburgh.[8] Edinburgh is also the seat ofBute House, theofficial residence of the First Minister, as well as thePalace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of themonarch in Scotland.[9] The highest courts in Scotland operating under the countrieslegal system – theHigh Court of Justiciary and theCourt of Session (known collectively as theSupreme Courts of Scotland) – are based atParliament House, Edinburgh.[10]
For local government, Scotland has 32council areas (unitary authorities). Below this uniform level of subdivision, there are varying levels ofarea committees in the larger rural council areas, and many smallcommunity 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 has an elected, devolved legislature, theSenedd (Welsh Parliament;Welsh:Senedd Cymru), from which theWelsh Government is drawn.For local government, Wales consists of 22 unitary authorities: 10county 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 intopreserved counties, which are used for ceremonial purposes. Although based on thecounties used for local government between 1974 and 1996, they no longer have an administrative function.
Each of the 650 electoral areas or divisions calledconstituencies of theParliament of the United Kingdom has, since 1950, elected oneMember of Parliament (MP) to represent it at theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom. Before 1950, some constituencies elected two or more MPs using theplurality bloc vote system, and before theReform Act 1832 nearly all constituencies in England returned two MPs.
The devolvedScottish Parliament, the WelshSenedd both use anadditional member system of elections, which combines single-member constituencies with multi-member electoral regions.
Elections to theNorthern Ireland Assembly are held under thesingle transferable vote (STV) system, in 18 multi-member constituencies.
Thewards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom are electoral districts at subnational level represented by one or more councillors atlocal authority level, or else used to divide the electorate intoelectoral districts for voting. It is the primary unit of British electoral geography.
There are also many informal, historical and special purpose regional designations. Some such as theHighlands of Scotland have or have had, to some extent, formal boundaries. Others such as theLondon commuter belt are more diffuse. Some such asSnowdonia (Welsh:Eryri) have a formal boundary in some contexts; in this case as aNational Park. Others such asThe Fens of easternEngland are quite distinctlydefined bygeography but do not form any officialentity.
The UK'sOffice for National Statistics, theInternational Organization for Standardization and before 2021Eurostat, have developed subdivision codes for the UK. SeeITL (UK) andISO 3166-2:GB.
The United Kingdom has 17 dependent territories in total: three "Crown Dependencies" in the British Isles and in theEnglish Channel and fourteen "overseas territories" scattered around the world.
Unlike other former colonial powers, the British Government does not classify its overseas possessions (or the crown dependencies, which share historical ties with the British Crown) as subdivisions of the United Kingdom itself; rather, each is treated in law as a separate jurisdiction. Most have their own legislatures and a degree of autonomy usually exceeding that of the devolved UK nations, including fiscal independence.
Out of the 14 overseas territories, 10 are autonomous, two used primarily as military bases,one uninhabited, andone an Antarctic claim.
However, the UK retains varying degrees of responsibility in all of the territories, currently ranging from full political control to a largely ceremonial presence. The main reserved matters are the areas of diplomacy, international treaties, defence and security. The UK also retains in all territories a residual responsibility for 'good governance', a loosely defined constitutional concept recently exemplified by its imposition of direct rule following alleged serious corruption in theTurks and Caicos Islands. The UK parliament at Westminster, and the British Government through the Privy Council, both retain the power to legislate for the overseas territories – though by convention will usually only do so with each local government's consent.
The threeCrown Dependencies within the British Isles are self-governing[11] possessions ofthe British Crown. They are distinct from the British overseas territories of the United Kingdom.[12]
As the UK has no written constitution in the usual sense, constitutional terminology is fraught with difficulties of interpretation and it is common usage nowadays to describe the four constituent parts of the UK (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) as "countries".
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