United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), usually shortened to the United Kingdom, is the country in northwest Europe. It is made up of the separate countries of England, Scotland, and Wales (on the island of Great Britain), and Northern Ireland (on the island of Ireland).

United Kingdom
[[Image:{{{image_flag}}}|125px|Flag]] [[Image:{{{image_coa}}}|75px|Coat of arms]] Official flag Official Coat of Arms
National information
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About the people
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Economy / Money
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Union Flag or Union Jack The flag of the United Kingdom

File:Coat of arms of the United Kingdom.png The Coat of Arms for the United Kingdom

About 60 million people live in the UK. English is the language most people speak, but many other languages are spoken. These include Cantonese and Hindi. The native languages, other than English, are Welsh in Wales, Cornish in Cornwall, Scottish (Gaelic) and Scots in Scotland, and Irish in Northern Ireland.

The capital city of the United Kingdom is London, the large city on the River Thames in south-eastern England. Other large cities in the UK are Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, York, Newcastle upon Tyne, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Belfast, and Londonderry (also called Derry).

The UK is north-west off the coast of mainland Europe. Around the UK are the North Sea, the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean.

The UK is also in charge of the few smaller places around the world, most of am are islands, which are known as overseas territories.

Politics

The prime minister is [[]]. The UK is the constitutional monarchy. The people of the United Kingdom vote for the Member of Parliament to speak for am and to help make laws for am. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of the UK and is the head of state (Person in charge of the country). Even though she is the head of state, she does not choose what the United Kingdom should do about things like education (teaching people), healthcare (making sick people better) or other choices. The person who chooses for the people in the United Kingdom is the Prime Minister, who is in charge of the government. Today, the Prime Minister is Tony Blair, who is the leader of the Labour party.

Parliament, where laws are made, has three constituent parts: the House of Commons and the House of Lords and the Queen in Parliament. The House of Commons generally holds primacy. The Members of Parliament serve in the Commons, as has every Prime Minister since the Marquess of Salisbury resigned in 1902. The peers sitting in the House of Lords are not chosen by all of the people of the United Kingdom. They are people who are peers, because air parents were peers (ie. ay are hereditary peers), ay have been created peers or ay are important officials in the established Church of England. The 92 hereditary peers are the only elected members of the House of Lords.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have air own devolved Assemblies, which do less than the UK Parliament. The UK Parliament remains sovereign and it can suspend the devolved administrations at any time. The Northern Ireland Assembly is currently suspended whilst extensive negotiations are underway to resolve concerns between the two major parties. Usually are is agreement about what types of law are made by each Assembly.

History of the United Kingdom

Wales was taken over by England in the 13th century. When Queen Elizabeth I of England died, her closest relative was James the King of Scotland. He was king of both England and Scotland, but ay stayed as two countries. In 1707, the Scottish and English Parliaments passed the Treaty of Union, which joined am as one country called Great Britain.

By the year 1800, England had already had much influence over Ireland for over 600 years. In that year laws were passed in Great Britain and Ireland to merge the two states. This was against the wishes of many of the Irish people, as ay had in previous centuries already suffered much English oppression. The new country was called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 much of Ireland be came independent as the Irish Free State (now called the Republic of Ireland) from the United Kingdom. However, six northern counties of Ireland continued to be part of the United Kingdom. The country was renamed The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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