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Politics of England forms the major part of the widerpolitics of the United Kingdom, withEngland being more populous than all the othercountries of the United Kingdom put together. As England is also by far the largest in terms ofarea and GDP, its relationship to the UK is somewhat different from that ofScotland,Wales orNorthern Ireland. The English capital London is also the capital of the UK, and English is the dominant language of the UK (not officially, butde facto).Dicey and Morris (p26) list the separate states in theBritish Islands. "England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, theIsle of Man,Jersey,Guernsey,Alderney, andSark.... is a separate country in the sense of theconflict of laws, though not one of them is a State known to public international law." But this may be varied by statute.

The United Kingdom is one state for the purposes of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882.Great Britain is a single state for the purposes of theCompanies Act 1985. Traditionally authors referred to the legal unit ofEngland and Wales as "England" although this usage is becoming politically unacceptable in the last few decades. TheParliament of the United Kingdom is located in London, as is its civil service,HM Treasury and most of the official residences of the monarchy. In addition, the state bank of the UK is known as the "Bank ofEngland".

Though associated with England for some purposes, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey have their own parliaments, and are not part of the United Kingdom, theEuropean Union or England.

Prior to theUnion, in 1707, England was ruled by amonarch and theParliament of England. Since the Union, England has not had its owngovernment.

TheEnglish Parliament traces its origins to theAnglo-SaxonWitenagemot. Hollister argues that:

In an age lacking precise definitions of constitutional relationships, the deeply ingrained custom that the king governed in consultation with the Witan, implicit in almost every important royal document of the period, makes the Witenagemot one of Anglo-Saxon England's fundamental political institutions.^[1]

In 1066,William of Normandy brought afeudal system, where he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief andecclesiastics before making laws. In 1215, the tenants-in-chief secured theMagna Carta fromKing John, which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council, which slowly developed into a parliament.

In 1265,Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester summoned the first elected Parliament. The franchise in parliamentary elections forcounty constituencies was uniform throughout the country, extending to all those who owned thefreehold of land to an annual rent of 40shillings (Forty-shilling Freeholders). In theboroughs, the franchise varied across the country; individual boroughs had varying arrangements.

This set the scene for the so-called "Model Parliament" of 1295 adopted byEdward I. By the reign ofEdward II, Parliament had been separated into two Houses: one including the nobility and higher clergy, the other including the knights and burgesses, and no law could be made, nor any tax levied, without the consent of both Houses as well as of the Sovereign.

TheLaws in Wales Acts of 1535–42 annexed Wales as part of England and brought Welsh representatives to Parliament.

WhenElizabeth I was succeeded in 1603 by theScottish KingJames VI, (thus becoming James I of England), the countries both came under his rule but each retained its own Parliament. James I's successor,Charles I, quarrelled with the English Parliament and, after he provoked theWars of the Three Kingdoms, their dispute developed into theEnglish Civil War. Charles was executed in 1649 and underOliver Cromwell'sCommonwealth of England the House of Lords was abolished, and the House of Commons made subordinate to Cromwell. After Cromwell's death,the Restoration of 1660 restored the monarchy and the House of Lords.

Amidst fears of a Roman Catholic succession, theGlorious Revolution of 1688 deposedJames II (James VII of Scotland) in favour of the joint rule ofMary II andWilliam III, whose agreement to theEnglish Bill of Rights introduced aconstitutional monarchy, though the supremacy of the Crown remained. For the third time, aConvention Parliament, i.e., one not summoned by the king, was required to determine the succession.

Theflag of England was incorporated into what is now theUnion Jack.

• Treaty of Union agreed by commissioners for each parliament on 22 July 1706.
• Acts of Union 1707, passed by both the Parliament of England and theParliament of Scotland to form theKingdom of Great Britain.
• Act of Union 1800, passed by both theParliament of Great Britain and theParliament of Ireland to form theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Once the terms of theTreaty of Union were agreed in 1706,Acts of Union were passed in both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland, which created a newKingdom of Great Britain. The Acts dissolved both parliaments, replacing them with a newParliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain based in the former home of the English parliament. All the traditions, procedures, and standing orders of the English parliament were retained, as were the incumbent officers, and English members comprised the overwhelming majority of the new body. It was not even considered necessary to hold a new general election. WhileScots law and Scottish legislation remained separate, new legislation for both former kingdoms was now dealt with by the new parliament.

After theHanoverianGeorge I ascended the throne in 1714 through anAct of Parliament, power began to shift from the Sovereign, and by the end of his reign the position of the ministers – who had to rely on Parliament for support – was cemented. Towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over Parliament, which was dominated by the English aristocracy and bypatronage, but had ceased to exert direct power: for instance, the last occasionRoyal Assent was withheld, was in 1708 byQueen Anne. Atgeneral elections the vote was restricted tofreeholders and landowners, in constituencies that were out of date, so that in many "rotten boroughs" seats could be bought while major cities remained unrepresented. Reformers andRadicals sought parliamentary reform, but as theNapoleonic Wars developed the government became repressive against dissent and progress toward reform was stalled.

When the United Kingdom was a member of the European Union, members of theEuropean Parliament for the United Kingdom were elected by twelve Europeanconstituencies, of which nine were within England, the others being one each covering Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.Gibraltar, the only British Overseas Territory that was then part of the European Union, was included in the South West England European Constituency. At the last European Parliamentary election in which the United Kingdom participated, the English European constituencies were

WhileScotland,Wales andNorthern Ireland voted fordevolved legislatures in referendums in 1997 and 1998 (see1997 Scottish devolution referendum,1997 Welsh devolution referendum, and1998 Northern Irish Belfast Agreement referendum) England has never had any referendum for Independence or devolved Assembly/Parliament.

TheScottish Parliament,Senedd andNorthern Ireland Assembly were created by theUK parliament along with strong support from the majority of people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are not independent of the rest of the United Kingdom. However, this gave each country a separate and distinct political identity, leaving England (83% of the UK population) as the only part of the UKdirectly ruled in nearly all matters by the UK government in London, althoughLondon itself is devolved (see below).

While Scotland and Northern Ireland have always had separatelegal systems to England (seeScots law andNorthern Ireland law), this has not been the case with Wales (seeEnglish law,Welsh law andContemporary Welsh Law). However, laws concerning theWelsh language, and also theSenedd, have created differences between the law in Wales, and the law in England, as they apply in Wales and not in England.

Regarding parliamentary matters, an anomaly called theWest Lothian Question had come to the fore as a result of legislative devolution for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland without corresponding legislative devolution for England. Before devolution, for example, purely 'Scottish' legislation was debated atWestminster in a Scottish Grand Committee composed of just those MPs representing Scottish constituencies.

However, legislation was still subject to a vote of the entire House of Commons and this frequently led to legislation being passed despite the majority of Scottish MPs voting against. (This was especially true during the period of Conservative rule from 1979 to 1997 when the Conservative Party had an overall majority of MPs but only a handful representing Scotland and Wales.) Now that many Scottish matters are dealt with by the Scottish Parliament, the fact that MPs representing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can not vote on those issues as they affect Scotland, but can vote on those same issues as they affect England caused some disquiet. In 2015 English votes for English laws was passed by Westminster to solve this by giving English MPs a veto on legislation throughLegislative Grand Committees. This system was discontinued in 2021.

TheCampaign for an English Parliament is a proponent of a separate English parliament.

TheParliament of the United Kingdom is located atWestminster in London.

English members of parliament are elected at the same time as those for the rest of the UK. There are 533 English constituencies. Because of their large number, they form an inbuilt majority in theHouse of Commons. Even though Clause 81 of theScotland Act 1998 equalised the English and Scottish electoral quota, and thereby reduced the number of Scottish members in the House of Commons from 72 to 59 MPs.

There is no English Grand Committee, however there is aRegional Affairs Committee which every English member can attend. For many years an anomaly known as theWest Lothian question where MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are able to vote on matters which only affect England only when those same issues are devolved to their own institutions and has become a major issue in recent years. In May 2015 theConservative Party won an unexpected overall majority and pledged to commit to a manifesto promise to change parliamentary procedures and create a Legislative Grand Committee to give English MPs a much greater role in issues which affect only England (or England and Wales) as a solution to this issue known as "English votes for English laws" (EVEL). On 22 October 2015 following a heated debate in theHouse of Commons the Conservative Government led byDavid Cameron by 312 votes to 270 votes approved the proposals which came into effect immediately.^[2] The legislative grand committee system was abolished in July 2021.^[3]

TheHouse of Lords also has an inbuilt English majority.

Members of the House of Lords who sit by virtue of their ecclesiastical offices are known as theLords Spiritual. Formerly, the Lords Spiritual comprised a majority in the House of Lords, including theChurch of England'sarchbishops,diocesan bishops,abbots, andpriors. After 1539, however, only the archbishops and bishops continued to attend, for theDissolution of the Monasteries suppressed the positions of abbot and prior. In 1642, during the English Civil War, the Lords Spiritual were excluded altogether, but they returned under theClergy Act 1661.

The number of Lords Spiritual was further restricted by theBishopric of Manchester Act 1847, and by later acts. Now, there can be no more than 26 Lords Spiritual in the Lords, but they always include the five most important prelates of the Church: theArchbishop of Canterbury, theArchbishop of York, theBishop of London, theBishop of Durham, and theBishop of Winchester. Membership of the House of Lords also extends to the 21 longest-serving other diocesan bishops of the Church of England. The current Lords Spiritual, therefore, represent only the Church of England, although members of other churches and religions are appointed by the Queen as individuals and notex officio.

Party[citation needed]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	328	133	1	132	62.0	11,347,882	43.5	9.6
	Conservative	165	0	159	159	31.2	8,780,881	33.7	11.8
	Liberal Democrats	34	26	1	25	6.4	4,677,565	18.0	1.3
	Referendum	0	0	0		—	746,624	2.9	N/A
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	103,521	0.4	N/A
	Independent	1	1	0	1	0.2	69,464	0.3	0.2
	Green	0	0	0		—	60,013	0.2	0.4
	Liberal	0	0	0		—	44,516	0.2
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		—	44,114	0.2	N/A
	BNP	0	0	0		—	35,181	0.1	0.1
	Natural Law	0	0	0		—	25,958	0.1	0.1
	Independent Labour	0	0	0		—	24,447	0.1
	Speaker	1	1	0	1	0.2	24,447	0.1	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	0	0	0		—	18,667	0.1
	Prolife Alliance	0	0	0		—	13,890	0.1	N/A
	Other parties	0	0	0		—	42,020	0.2	N/A
							26,058,712	71.5	6.5

Party[citation needed]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	323	1	6	5	61.1	9,056,824	41.4	2.1
	Conservative	165	8	8		31.2	7,705,870	35.2	1.5
	Liberal Democrats	40	8	2	6	8.1	4,246,853	19.4	1.5
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	374,775	1.7	1.3
	Green	0	0	0		—	158,173	0.7	0.5
	Independent	0	0	1	1	—	79,559	0.4	0.1
	Socialist Alliance	0	0	0		—	55,295	0.3	N/A
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		—	51,299	0.2	0.1
	BNP	0	0	0		—	46,851	0.2	0.1
	Health Concern	1	1	0	1	0.2	28,487	0.1	N/A
	Liberal	0	0	0		—	13,302	0.1	0.1
	Other parties	0	0	0	1	—	53,474	0.2	N/A
							21,870,762	59.1	12.2

Party[citation needed]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	286	0	37	37	54.1	8,043,461	35.4	6.0
	Conservative	194	32	3	29	36.7	8,116,005	35.7	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	47	12	5	7	8.9	5,201,286	22.9	3.6
	Respect	1	1	0	1	0.2	67,422	0.3	0.3
	Health Concern	1	0	0		0.2	18,739	0.1
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	592,417	2.6	0.9
	Green	0	0	0		0.0	251,051	1.1	0.4
	BNP	0	0	0		0.0	189,570	0.8	0.6
	Veritas	0	0	0		0.0	39,044	0.2	New
	Liberal	0	0	0		0.0	17,547	0.1
	Others	0	0	0		0.0	177,343	0.8	N/A
							22,713,855	61.0	1.9

Party[4]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Conservative	297	95	4	91	55.7	9,908,169	39.5	3.8
	Labour	191	2	89	87	35.8	7,042,398	28.1	7.4
	Liberal Democrats	43	8	12	4	8.1	6,076,189	24.2	1.3
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	866,633	3.5	0.9
	BNP	0	0	0		—	532,333	2.1	1.3
	Green	1	0	0	1	0.2	258,954	1.0	0.1
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	64,826	0.3	0.2
	Respect	0	0	0	1	—	33,251	0.1	0.2
	Speaker	1	1	0	1	0.2	22,860	0.1
	Health Concern	0	0	0	1	—	16,150	0.1
	Christian	0	0	0	0	—	15,841	0.1	N/A
	National Front	0	0	0	0	—	10,400	0.0
	TUSC	0	0	0	0	—	8,404	0.0	N/A
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	—	4,368	0.0
	Other parties	0	0	0	0	—	224,341	0.9
							25,085,097	65.5	4.5

Party[5]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Conservative	318	32	11	21	59.7	10,483,261	40.9	1.4
	Labour	206	21	6	15	38.6	8,087,684	31.6	3.6
	UKIP	1	1	0	1	0.2	3,611,367	14.1	10.7
	Liberal Democrats	6	0	37	37	1.1	2,098,404	8.2	16.0
	Green	1	0	0		0.2	1,073,242	4.2	3.2
	Speaker	1	0	0		0.2	34,617	0.1
	TUSC	0	0	0		—	32,868	0.1	0.1
	NHA	0	0	0		—	20,210	0.1	New
	Respect	0	0	0		—	9,989	0.0	0.1
	Yorkshire First	0	0	0		—	6,811	0.0	New
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	6,431	0.0	0.2
	CISTA	0	0	0		—	4,569	0.0	New
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0		—	3,432	0.0
	CPA	0	0	0		—	3,260	0.0
	BNP	0	0	0		—	1,667	0.0	2.1
	Class War	0	0	0		—	526	0.0	New
	Other parties	0	0	0		—	127,133	0.5	0.2
							25,571,204	65.9	0.4

Party[6]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Conservative	296	8	30	22	55.5	12,344,901	45.4	4.4
	Labour	227	27	6	21	42.6	11,390,099	41.9	10.3
	Liberal Democrats	8	5	3	2	1.5	2,121,810	7.8	0.4
	UKIP	0	0	1	1	—	557,390	2.1	12.1
	Green	1	0	0		0.2	506,969	1.9	2.3
	Speaker	1	0	0		0.2	34,299	0.1
	Yorkshire	0	0	0		—	20,958	0.1	0.1
	NHA	0	0	0		—	16,119	0.1
	CPA	0	0	0		—	5,869	0.0
	BNP	0	0	0		—	4,642	0.0
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0		—	3,733	0.0
	Women's Equality	0	0	0		—	3,066	0.0
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	1,913	0.0
	Pirate	0	0	0		—	1,875	0.0
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0		—	771	0.0
	SDP	0	0	0		—	321	0.0
	Others	0	0	0		—	151,054	0.6	0.4
Total		533					27,165,789	Turnout	69.1

Party[7]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Conservative	345	52	3	49	64.7	12,710,845	47.2	1.7
	Labour	180	1	48	47	33.7	9,152,034	34.0	7.9
	Liberal Democrats	7	2	3	1	1.3	3,340,835	12.4	4.6
	Green	1	0	0		0.2	819,751	3.0	1.2
	Brexit Party	0	0	0		—	545,172	2.0	2.0
	Yorkshire	0	0	0		—	29,201	0.1
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	18,891	0.1	2.0
	Liberal	0	0	0		—	10,876	0.0
	Change UK	0	0	0		—	10,006	0.0	new
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0		—	9,394	0.0
	CPA	0	0	0		—	6,246	0.0
	Animal Welfare	0	0	0		—	3,086	0.0
	SDP	0	0	0		—	3,000	0.0
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	1,987	0.0
	Libertarian	0	0	0		—	1,375	0.0
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0		—	524	0.0
	Advance	0	0	0		—	351	0.0	new
	Others	0	0	0		—	246,094	0.9	0.8
							26,909,668	67.4	1.7

Party[8]		Seats					Aggregate votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net	Of all (%)	Total	Of all (%)	Differ­ence
	Labour	347	173	7	166	63.9	8,339,884	34.3	0.5
	Conservative	116	1	230	229	21.4	6,279,411	25.9	21.3
	Reform	5	5	0	5	0.9	3,726,224	15.3	13.3
	Liberal Democrats	65	59	0	59	12.0	3,199,060	13.2	0.8
	Green	4	3	0	3	0.7	1,780,226	7.3	4.3
	Independent	5	5	0	5	0.9	513,266	2.1	1.4
	Workers Party	0	New			—	208,234	0.9	New
	SDP	0	0	0		—	33,385	0.1	0.1
	Speaker	1	0	0		0.2	25,238	0.1
	Yorkshire	0	0	0		—	17,227	0.1
	Ind. Network	0	Did not stand in 2019			—	13,663	0.1	—
	TUSC	0	Did not stand in 2019			—	10,507	0	—
	Rejoin EU	0	New			—	9,245	0	New
	Liberal	0	0	0		—	5,894	0
	UKIP	0	0	0		—	5,617	0
	CPA	0	0	0		—	5,604	0
	Heritage	0	New			—	5,441	0	New
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0		—	5,421	0
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	5,182	0
	Party of Women	0	New			—	5,077	0	New
	Hampshire Ind.	0	0	0		—	2,872	0
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		—	2,397	0
	Climate	0	New			—	1,863	0	New
	British Democrats	0	Did not stand in 2019			—	1,860	0	—
	Alliance for Democracy and Freedom	0	New			—	1,586	0	New
	Communist	0	Did not stand in 2019			—	1,585	0	—
	English Constitution	0	New			—	1,563	0	New
	Animal Welfare	0	0	0		—	1,486	0
	True & Fair	0	New			—	1,440	0	New
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0		—	1,190	0
	Others	0	0	0		—	76,474	0.3
Total		543					24,288,122	60.0	7.4

After power was to be devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales without a counterweight in England, a series of referendums were planned to establish elected regional assemblies in some of the regions. The first was held inLondon in 1998 and was passed. TheLondon Assembly andMayor of London of theGreater London Authority were created in 2000.

Areferendum was held in North East England on 4 November 2004 but the proposal for an elected assembly was rejected. Plans to hold further referendums in other regions were then cancelled. The remaining eight Partnership Regional Assemblies were abolished in 2010 as part of aSub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration with most of their functions transferring to the relevantRegional Development Agency and toLocal Authority Leaders' Boards.^[9]

Greater London has a certain amount ofdevolution, with theLondon Assembly and the directly electedMayor of London. The Assembly was established on 3 July 2000, after areferendum in which 72% of those voting supported the creation of the Greater London Authority, which included the Assembly along with the Mayor of London. The referendum and establishment were largely contiguous with Scottish and Welsh devolution.

In Greater London, the 32London borough councils have a status close to that of unitary authorities, but come under theGreater London Authority, which oversees some of the functions performed elsewhere in England by Counties including transport, policing, the fire brigade and also economic development.

TheMayor of London is also referred to as the "London Mayor", a form which helps to avoid confusion with theLord Mayor of the City of London, the ancient and now mainly ceremonial role in theCity of London. The Mayor of London is mayor of Greater London, which has a population of over 7.5 million while the City of London is only a small part of the moderncity centre and has a population of fewer than 10,000.

Localism saw limited return of regional devolution, with devolved powers for combined authorities. The first Combined Authority, theGreater Manchester Combined Authority, was formed in 2011.

In 2014 it was announced that aMayor of Greater Manchester would be created as leader of theGreater Manchester Combined Authority. In 2017 elections were held forGreater Manchester, theLiverpool City Region, theTees Valley,West of England and theWest Midlands as part of the devolution deals allowed by theCities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. The delayed election for theSouth Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority followed in May 2018. The East Midlands Combined Authority (covering Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire) and theNorth East Mayoral Combined Authority were established in May 2024.

In September 2024, mayoral combined authorities were approved forGreater Lincolnshire andHull and East Yorkshire with mayors for these authorities expected to be elected in May 2025. Non-mayoral combined authorities were also agreed forDevon and Torbay andLancashire.^[10]

As of October 2024, in addition to theGreater London Authority there are 11 mayoralCombined Authorities in England. There are additional proposals for more combined authorities to be established in the future.^[11]

In 2012, prime ministerDavid Cameron had proposed that directly elected mayors sit within a "Cabinet of Mayors" giving them the opportunity to share ideas and represent their regions at national level. The cabinet of mayors would be chaired by the prime minister and would meet at least twice a year.^[12][13]

In 2022,Labour also proposed a similar body to be known as the "Council of England", chaired by the prime minister, to bring together combined authority mayors, representatives of local government and other stakeholders.^[14]

In 2024, the new Labour government established a UK-wideCouncil of the Nations and Regions including the Prime Minister, the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales, the First and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, the Mayor of London and the Mayors of Combined Authorities, and an England onlyMayoral Council including ministers from the UK government and Mayors of England's Combined Authorities.^[15] As the Labour government hopes that combined authorities will be established throughout England, the Mayoral Council would enventually evolve into an all England forum.^[16] As of October 2024, 48% of the population and 26% of the land area of England is represented on the Mayoral Council.^[17]

The UK central government retains the following powers in relation to England which are exercised by devolved governments in the rest of the United Kingdom:^[18]

• Agriculture
• Culture
• Education
• Environment
• Health (including social care)
• Housing
• Local government
• Road transport (includingbuses,cycling and local transport)
• Sport
• Tourism

Severalministerial government departments,non-ministerial government departments,executive agencies andnon-departmental public bodies of theUK government have responsibilities for matters affecting England alone.^[19]

• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
• Department for Education
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
• Department of Health and Social Care

The following ministerial departments deal mainly with matters affecting England though they also have some UK-wide responsibilities in certain areas;

• Department for Transport
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport

• Forestry Commission
• Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)
• Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual)

• Active Travel England
• Health Security Agency
• Planning Inspectorate
• Rural Payments Agency
• Standards and Testing Agency
• Teaching Regulation Agency

• Arts Council England
• Care Quality Commission
• Children's Commissioner for England
• Environment Agency
• Forestry England
• Historic England
• Homes England
• Natural England
• NHS England
• NHS Resolution
• Office for Students
• Office of the Schools Adjudicator
• Regulator of Social Housing
• School Teachers' Review Body
• Skills England
• Social Work England
• Sport England
• VisitEngland

• Valuation Tribunal for England

• Housing Ombudsman
• Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

• Community Health Partnerships
• Genomics England
• National Highways
• NHS Property Services
• NHS Professionals
• NHS Shared Business Services

For the purposes oflocal government, England is divided into as many as four levels ofadministrative divisions. At some levels, various legislation has created alternative types of administrative division.

Districts in England may also have the status ofborough,city orroyal borough.

The metropolitan counties were divided into metropolitan districts which are usually called boroughs. When the county councils were abolished the metropolitan districts gained much of their powers and therefore function similar to other unitary authorities.

Shire counties are divided into non-metropolitan districts. Power is shared with the county council, but shared differently from the metropolitan counties when first created.

Thecivil parish is the most local unit of government in England. Under the legislation that created Greater London, they are not permitted within its boundary. Not all of the rest of England is parished, though the number of parishes and total area parished is growing.

TheGreen Party of England and Wales had an amicable split fromScottish counterpart in 1990, and theWales Green Party section is semi-autonomous.

TheConservative Party adopted a policy ofEnglish Votes on English Legislation (EVoEL), to prevent non-English constituency MPs voting on exclusively English legislation. Despite 'One Nation' Conservativism, some have flirted^[20] with devolution factors like theBarnett-Formula.

TheLabour Party have devolved sub-parties forScotland andWales. Labour tried unsuccessfully to devolve power to theRegions of England, on the basis of England being dis-proportionately large as a single entity within the United Kingdom.Lord Falconer, a Scottish peer claimed adevolved English parliament would dwarf the rest of the United Kingdom.^[21]

TheLiberal Democrats have nominally separateScottish,Welsh andEnglish parties.

In spite of seeking independence of the United Kingdom from the European Union, both theUK Independence Party (UKIP) andReform UK do not support further onward devolution to England, although support scrapping theBarnett formula.

Most of the parties that only operate within England alone tend to be purely interested in English issues, likeEnglish independence or anEnglish Parliament. Examples include theEnglish Democrats, One England, the English People's Party, the English Radical Alliance, theEngland First Party, and the English Independence Party.

TheChurch of England is theofficially establishedChristianchurch^[22] in England.King Charles III is the official head of the church, with the titleSupreme Governor of the Church of England, while theArchbishop of Canterbury is the head clergyman. The canon law of the Church of England states, "We acknowledge that the King's most excellent Majesty, acting according to the laws of the realm, is the highest power under God in this kingdom, and has supreme authority over all persons in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil." In practice this power is often exercised throughParliament and thePrime Minister.

Of the forty-four diocesanarchbishops andbishops in the Church of England, twenty-six are permitted to sit in theHouse of Lords. The Archbishops ofCanterbury andYork automatically have seats, as do the Bishops ofLondon,Durham andWinchester. The remaining twenty-one seats are filled in order of seniority byconsecration. It may take a diocesan bishop a number of years to reach the House of Lords, at which point he becomes aLord Spiritual.^[23]

The historic county ofMonmouthshire, lying in theWelsh Marches (the Anglo-Welsh border), is a bone of contention for some English nationalists.^[24] Although the county is now mostly in Wales, to add to the confusion,Welsh Bicknor was an exclave of the county, and is inHerefordshire (England). The Welsh Border has historically been more fluid than theAnglo-Scottish border

Monmouthshire's Welsh status was ambiguous until relatively recently, with it often thought of as part of England. The entirety of Wales was made part of theKingdom of England by theStatute of Rhuddlan, but did not adopt the same civil governance system, with the area of Monmouthshire being under the control ofMarcher Lords.

TheLaws in Wales Act 1535 integrated Wales directly into the English legal system and the "Lordships Marchers within the said Country or Dominion of Wales" were allocated to existing and new shires. Some lordships were annexed to existing counties in England and some were annexed to existing counties in Wales, with the remainder being divided up into new counties. Despite Monmouthshire being a new county, it was given twoKnights of the Shire in common with existing counties in England, rather than one as in the counties in Wales.

The relevant section of the Act states that "one Knight shall be chosen and elected to the same Parliaments for every of the Shires of Brecknock, Radnor, Montgomery and Denbigh, and for every other Shire within the said Country of Dominion of Wales". As Monmouthshire was dealt with separately it cannot be taken to be a shire "within the said Country of Dominion of Wales". TheLaws in Wales Act 1542 specifically enumerates the Welsh counties as twelve in number, excluding Monmouthshire from the count.

The issue was finally clarified in law by theLocal Government Act 1972, which provided that "in every act passed on or after 1 April 1974, and in every instrument made on or after that date under any enactment (whether before, on or after that date) "Wales", subject to any alterations of boundaries..." included "the administrative county of Monmouthshire and the county borough of Newport".^[25] The name passed onto adistrict of Gwent between 1974 and 1996, and on 1 April 1996, a local government principal area namedMonmouthshire, covering the eastern 60% of the historic county, was created.

However, the issue has not gone completely away, and theEnglish Democrats nominated candidates for the2007 Welsh Assembly elections in three of six constituencies in the area of the historic county with a view to promoting a referendum on 'Letting Monmouthshire Decide' whether it wished to be part of Wales or England.^[26] The party received between 2.2% and 2.7% of the vote (a much lower total thanPlaid Cymru) and failed to have any members elected.^[27]

The status ofBerwick, north of theRiver Tweed is controversial, especially amongstScottish nationalists.^[28] Berwick remained a county in its own right until 1885, when it was included inNorthumberland for Parliamentary purposes. TheInterpretation Act 1978 provides that in legislation passed between 1967 and 1974, "a reference to England includes Berwick upon Tweed andMonmouthshire".

In 2008, SNP MSPChristine Grahame made calls in theScottish Parliament for Berwick to become part of Scotland again, saying

"Even the Berwick-upon-Tweed Borough Council leader, who is a Liberal Democrat, backs the idea and others see the merits of reunification with Scotland."^[29]

However, Alan Beith, theLiberal Democrat MP for Berwick, said the move would require a massive legal upheaval and is not realistic.^[30] However he is contradicted by another member of his party, the Liberal Democrat MSPJeremy Purvis, who was born and brought up in Berwick. Purvis has asked for the border to be movedtwenty miles south (i.e., south of the Tweed) to include Berwick borough council rather than just the town, and has said:

"There's a strong feeling that Berwick should be in Scotland, Until recently, I had a gran in Berwick and another inKelso, and they could see that there were better public services in Scotland. Berwick as a borough council is going to be abolished and it would then be run fromMorpeth, more than 30 miles away.".^[31]

According to a poll conducted by a TV company, 60% of residents favoured Berwick rejoining Scotland.^[32]

Most English people and the UK government regardCornwall as acounty of England, butCornish nationalists believe that theDuchy of Cornwall has a status deserving greater autonomy. Campaigners includingMebyon Kernow, a Cornish nationalist party, and all five CornishLiberal Democrat MPs opposed participation in theSouth West Regional Assembly alongsideDevon,Dorset,Gloucestershire,Somerset andWiltshire in favour of a democratically electedCornish Assembly.^[33][34][35]

• Politics of England

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