tafford, 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) is a
hereditary monarch; Heir Apparent Prince CHARLES (son of the queen,
born 14 November 1948)
head of government: Prime Minister John MAJOR (since 28 November
1990) is the leader of the party which holds the majority in the
House of Commons and must have the consent of the monarch
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers was appointed by the prime minister

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament
House of Lords: consists of a 1,200-member body, four-fifths are
hereditary peers, two archbishops, 24 other senior bishops, serving
and retired Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, other life peers, Scottish
peers
House of Commons: elections last held 9 April 1992 (next to be held
by NA April 1997); results - Conservative 41.9%, Labor 34.5%,
Liberal Democratic 17.9%, other 5.7%; seats - (651 total)
Conservat