Administrative divisions: 47 counties, 7 metropolitan counties, 26
districts, 9 regions, and 3 islands areas; England - 39 counties, 7
metropolitan counties*; Avon, Bedford, Berkshire, Buckingham,
Cambridge, Cheshire, Cleveland, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derby, Devon,
Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucester, Greater London*,
Greater Manchester*, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Hertford,
Humberside, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicester, Lincoln,
Merseyside*, Norfolk, Northampton, Northumberland, North Yorkshire,
Nottingham, Oxford, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire*, Stafford,
Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne and Wear*, Warwick, West Midlands*, West Sussex,
West Yorkshire*, Wiltshire; Northern Ireland - 26 districts; Antrim,
Ards, Armagh, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast,
Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Down,
Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne, Limavady, Lisburn, Londonderry,
Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North Down, Omagh,
Strabane; Scotland - 9 regions, 3 islands areas*; Borders, Central,
Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Grampian, Highland, Lothian, Orkney*,
Shetland*, Strathclyde, Tayside, Western Isles*; Wales - 8 counties;
Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan,
West Glamorgan
Dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory,
British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar,
Guernsey, Hong Kong (scheduled to become a Special Administrative
Region of China on 1 July 1997), Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat,
Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich
Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
Independence: 1 January 1801 (United Kingdom established)
National holiday: Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen (second
Saturday in June)
Constitution: unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice
Legal system: common law tradition with early Roman and modern continental influences; no judicial review of Acts of Parliament; 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 Tony BLAIR (since 2 May 1997) cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister elections: none; the queen is a hereditary monarch; prime minister is the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons and must have the consent of the monarch
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords (1,200 seats; four-fifths of the members are hereditary peers, two archbishops, 24 other senior bishops, serving and retired Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, other life peers, Scottish peers) and House of Commons (659 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms) elections: House of Lords - no elections; House of Commons - last held 1 May 1997 (next to be held by NA May 2002) election results: House of Commons - percent of vote by party - Labor 44.5%, Conservative 31%, Liberal Democratic 17%, other 7.5%; seats by party - Labor 418, Conservative 165, Liberal Democratic 46, other 30
Judicial branch: House of Lords, several Lords of Appeal in Ordinary are appointed by the monarch for life