nd*, Strathclyde, Tayside, Western Isles*; Wales - 8 counties;
Clwyd, Dyfed, Gwent, Gwynedd, Mid Glamorgan, Powys, South Glamorgan,
West Glamorgan
note: England may now have 35 counties and Wales 9 counties

Dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory,
British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar,
Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint
Helena, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos
Islands

Independence: England has existed as a unified entity since the 10th
century; the union between England and Wales was enacted under the
Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284; in the Act of Union of 1707, England and
Scotland agreed to permanent union as Great Britain; the legislative
union of Great Britain and Ireland was implemented in 1801, with the
adoption of the name the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland;
the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 formalized a partition of Ireland; six
northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom as
Northern Ireland and the current name of the country, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was adopted in 1927

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; British courts
and legislation are increasingly subject to review by European Union
courts

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 Anthony C. L. (Tony) BLAIR (since 2
May 1997)
cabinet: Cabinet of Ministers appointed by the prime minister
elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the prime minister is the
leader of the majority party in the House of Commons (assuming there
is no majority party, a prime minister would have a majority coalition
or at least a coalition that was not rejected by the majority)

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of House of Lords
(the old House of Lords has been disbanded, and the new one is still
being formed; the most likely plan calls for 500 members, one-fifth
elected and the rest appointed)