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United Kingdom

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The United Kingdom is a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy formed by the political union of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Its constitutional character traces to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 to 1689, which subordinated the crown to Parliament. Its name and present form arrived in stages: England and Scotland joined as the Kingdom of Great Britain under the Acts of Union of 1707, Ireland joined in 1801 to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the country settled into its current borders in 1927 after most of Ireland left the union.

Facts
Founding Year
1801 1
1801 is when the Acts of Union with Ireland created the state actually named the United Kingdom. It is one of at least three defensible dates: 1707 created its parliamentary predecessor, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and 1927 renamed and re-bordered it as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after Irish independence. The entity description narrates all three rather than letting this one field stand alone.
Foreign relations and policy

Current government: Starmer Government (since 2024)

Effective from 2025, ongoing.

Earlier governments

Party positions (proposed or ideological, not state policy)

Conservative Party (United Kingdom) (proposed or ideological position, not state policy; governs as Sunak Government)

Labour Party (United Kingdom) (proposed or ideological position, not state policy; governs as Starmer Government)

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

The UK has run caretaker governments after the February 1974 election, the May 2010 hung Parliament, and Boris Johnson's 2022 resignation, all documented Institute for Government cases.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "government conventions in the United Kingdom."

This source names United Kingdom directly: "China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories."

The Conservative government's 2017 to 2019 agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party, after the Conservatives lost their majority in that year's general election, is the most widely reported recent instance of the arrangement.

The monarch retains formal powers to appoint the prime minister, dissolve Parliament and approve bills, but in practice largely defers to the elected government.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "The United Kingdom devolved government to Northern Ireland as early as 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and established the Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly in 1997 and 1998..."

UK parliamentary dissolution moved from the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 back to a prerogative-style power under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "contest, as in India, Canada and the United Kingdom, all first past the post systems that nonetheless sustain more than two significant parties."

This source names United Kingdom directly: "for women's voting rights in the United Kingdom."

FPTP elects Members of Parliament to Westminster.

Ghana, Countries

This source names United Kingdom directly: "colonial rule, gaining it from the United Kingdom on 6 March 1957 under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah."

Source Ghana (Britannica)

The UK splits the roles: the monarch is head of state, the prime minister is head of government.

Impeachment originated in the 14th-century English Parliament, first used against William, 4th Baron Latimer, in the Good Parliament of 1376.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "in 1945 by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union under the London Agreement and Charter of August 8, 1945, to try major officials of Nazi Germany for war crimes..."

This source names United Kingdom directly: "the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States, on 4 April 1949 at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington, D.C., committing signatories to collective defence under..."

This source names United Kingdom directly: "Allied powers, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union, prosecuted surviving leaders and officials of Nazi Germany for crimes committed before and during the Second World..."

This source names United Kingdom directly: "The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the UK, comprising the House of Commons and the House of Lords, sitting at the Palace of Westminster in London."

The 1689 settlement establishing parliamentary supremacy took place in England.

The UK adopted PR for European Parliament elections and some local elections in London and Northern Ireland.

The UK's Public Health Act 1848 established the first dedicated national public-health governmental body.

The UK held a 2011 referendum on adopting the alternative vote, which more than two-thirds of voters rejected.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "of direct citizen lawmaking, while the United Kingdom has used national referendums sparingly and on constitutional questions, on continued membership of the European Communities in 1975 and on..."

The UK is unitary: Parliament retains supreme, revocable authority even where powers are devolved to Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "It has fifteen members: five permanent (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) each holding a veto over substantive resolutions, and ten elected for two-year terms."

The United Kingdom is one of the five permanent, veto-holding members of the UN Security Council.

This source names United Kingdom directly: "The women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom was a campaign for women to gain the vote on the same terms as men, pursued through both constitutional suffragist organisations and militant..."

Governed By

Practices

Shaped By

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. United Kingdom (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaView the Source
Vote of Confidence (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaAssociated With: Motion of No ConfidenceView the Source
Explainer: What Is a Confidence-and-Supply Government? (The Conversation)
The ConversationAssociated With: Confidence and SupplyView the Source
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