Greater London: Barking and
Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield,
Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering,
Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Kingston upon
Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, City of London, Merton, Newham, Redbridge,
Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest,
Wandsworth, Westminster
metropolitan counties: Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury,
Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowlsey,
Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham,
Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South
Tyneside, St. Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield,
Walsall, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton
unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen,
Blackpool, Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, City of
Bristol, Darlington, Derby, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool,
County of Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, City of Kingston upon Hull,
Leicester, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North East
Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough,
Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Slough,
South Gloucestershire, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, Stockton-on-Tees,
Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington,
West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, York.
Northern Ireland: Antrim, Ards, Armagh,
Ballymena, Ballymoney, Banbridge, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Castlereagh,
Coleraine, Cookstown, Craigavon, Derry, Down, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Larne,
Limavady, Lisburn, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newry and Mourne, Newtownabbey, North
Down, Omagh, Strabane
Scotland: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire,
Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee
City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire,
City of Edinburgh, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City,
Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire,
Orkney Islands, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands, South
Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, The Scottish Borders, West
Dunbartonshire, West Lothian.
Wales: Blaenau Gwent; Bridgend;
Caerphilly; Cardiff; Carmarthenshire; Ceredigion; Conwy; Denbighshire;
Flintshire; Gwynedd; Isle of Anglesey; Merthyr Tydfil; Monmouthshire; Neath
Port Talbot; Newport; Pembrokeshire; Powys; Rhondda, Cynon, Taff; Swansea;
The Vale of Glamorgan; Torfaen; Wrexham (source:
CIA).
At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the earth's surface. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted in two World Wars and the Irish republic withdraw from the union. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous European nation. As one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a founding member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth, the UK pursues a global approach to foreign policy; it currently is weighing the degree of its integration with continental Europe.
A member of the EU, it chose to remain outside the Economic and Monetary Union for the time being. Constitutional reform is also a significant issue in the UK. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Assembly were established in 1999, but the latter was suspended until May 2007 due to wrangling over the peace process.
The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. Since emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy has enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record; growth has remained in the 2-3% range since 2004, outpacing most of Europe.
The economy's strength has complicated the Labor government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out that the economy is doing well outside of EMU, and public opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to the euro. The BROWN government has been speeding up the improvement of education, health services, and affordable housing at a cost in higher taxes and a widening public deficit.
England: 34 two-tier counties, 32 London
boroughs and 1 City of London or Greater London, 36 metropolitan counties,
46 unitary authorities
two-tier counties: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire,
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham,
East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent,
Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, North Yorkshire,
Northamptonshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire,
Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex,
Wiltshire, Worcestershire
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