ties*; 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)
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
National holiday:
Celebration of the Birthday of the Queen (second Saturday in June)

*United Kingdom, Government

Political parties and leaders:
Conservative and Unionist Party, John MAJOR; Labor Party, John SMITH;
Liberal Democrats (LD), Jeremy (Paddy) ASHDOWN; Scottish National Party,
Alex SALMOND; Welsh National Party (Plaid Cymru), Dafydd Iwan WIGLEY; Ulster
Unionist Party (Northern Ireland), James MOLYNEAUX; Democratic Unionist
Party (Northern Ireland), Rev. Ian PAISLEY; Ulster Popular Unionist Party
(Northern Ireland), James KILFEDDER; Social Democratic and