Administrative and Territorial divisions of the UK

Seminar 3. Geography and the administrative division of Great Britain

Task 1. Answer the following questions:

1) What can you say about the national flag and coat of arms of Great Britain?

2) Where is Great Britain located?

3) What mountains and mountain rangers of Great Britain do you know? Show them on the map.

4) What can you say about water resources of Great Britain?

5) Is Great Britain covered with forests?

Task 2. Read the text “Administrative and Territorial divisions of the UK” and answer the following questions:

1. What are the subnational entities of the U.K.? What are the historical reasons for such division?

2. Why are Scotland and Northern Ireland regarded as separate subnational units?

3. What do you know about the lowest Welsh administrative unit?

4. What are the administrative units in Scotland?

5. What is so peculiar about geographical and administrative division of Northern Ireland?

6. How are constituencies established in the U.K.?

Administrative and Territorial divisions of the UK

The subdivisions of the United Kingdom are complex, multi-layered and non-uniform, varying between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They have developed into the current structure over hundreds of years.

The United Kingdom is divided into four entities: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These are commonly termed nations or constituent countries. But this usage for Northern Ireland is disputed. This structure was formed by the political union between the former sovereign states: the Kingdom of England which included the conquered principality of Wales and the Kingdom of Scotland by the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707-1800). Then followed the Act of Union 1800 which united Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The independence of the Irish Free State in 1922, and the partition of Ireland resulted in the current United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. England and Wales are treated as a single entity principally that they share a legal system while Scotland and Northern Ireland have a separate legal system.

England is divided by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 into areas for the appointment of Lord Lieutenants who are historically the Crown’s representative in a county. Although not actually defined as such, these areas have become known as ceremonial or geographic counties. These counties are sometimes used by people when describing where they live In England. However, many are not used as local government areas themselves because many are too large or include large urban areas. They are taken into consideration, for example, when drawing up parliamentary constituency boundaries. For the purposes of local government England is divided into as many as four levels of administrative divisions. They are: regional, county, district and parish levels. But at some levels and places various legislations have created alternative types of administrative division.

At the top level England is divided into nine regions each containing one or more country-level entities. The regions were created in 1994 and since the 1999 Euro-elections have been used as England’s European Parliament constituencies. All have the same status. However, London is the only region with any substantial devolved power in the form of an elected mayor and the Greater London Authority. The regions also vary greatly in size both in their areas covered and their populations. They are: South East, South West, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire, the Humber, North East, North West, and London.

Wales is subject to the administration of both the UK Government in Westminster and the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff. The UK Government retains responsibility for all primary legislation. But the National Assembly has powers to make secondary legislation in a range of policy areas such as health, education, industry, agriculture, local government, environment and culture.

Scotland has a legislature, the Scottish Parliament with a government and the Scottish Executive. Below the national level Scotland has 32 council areas which are unitary authorities. Below this uniform level of subdivision there is a varying level of area committees in the larger rural council areas and many small community councils throughout the country, although these are not universal. Scottish community councils have fewer powers than English parish councils or Welsh community councils.

Northern Ireland was established as a distinct administrative region of the United Kingdom on 3 May 1921 under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. For over 50 years it was the only part of the UK to have its own form of devolved government until it was suspended in 1972. Northern Ireland’s current devolved government bodies, the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 but were suspended several times. Northern Ireland’s legal system descends from the pre-1921 Irish system. It is based on common law. Northern Ireland is a district jurisdiction separate from England and Wales and Scotland.

At present Northern Ireland has the Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive established under the Good Friday Agreement. When the devolved institutions were suspended, executive government in Northern Ireland was administered directly by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and laws made in the United Kingdom Parliament, known as direct rule in contrast to devolution.

For electoral purposes the United Kingdom is divided into geographical areas, known as constituencies, each of which is represented in the House of Commons by a separate Member of Parliament (MP). There are two types of constituency: borough and county. To ensure equitable representation four permanent parliamentary boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland undertake periodic reviews of constituencies in that part of the United Kingdom for which they are responsible and recommend any redistribution of seats that may seem desirable in the light of population movements or for some other reason. Each constituency is divided into a number of polling districts in each of which there is a polling station in the charge of a presiding officer.

Notes:

county – графство в Англии и Ирландии, административный округ в США.

metropolitan – графство-метрополия

borough – город-графство

principality – княжество

shire – центральное графство в Англии

constituency – избирательный округ