Countries of the United Kingdom

Various terms have been used to describe England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Acts of Parliament

Constitutional documents and events relevant to the status of the United Kingdom and its countries
List per year Treaty of Union 1706 Acts of Union 1707 Succession to the Crown Act 1707 1707 Septennial Act 1716 Wales and Berwick Act 1746 Constitution of Ireland (1782) 1782 Acts of Union 1800 1800 HC (Disqualifications) Act 1801 1801 Reform Act 1832 1832 Scottish Reform Act 1832 1832 Irish Reform Act 1832 1832 Judicial Committee Act 1833 1833 Judicial Committee Act 1843 1843 Judicial Committee Act 1844 1844 Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 British North America Act 1867 1867 Representation of the People Act 1867 1867 Reform Act (Scotland) 1868 1868 Reform Act (Ireland) 1868 1868 Irish Church Act 1869 Royal Titles Act 1876 1876 Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 Reform Act 1884 1884 Interpretation Act 1889 1889 Cth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 Parliament Act 1911 Aliens Restriction Act 1914 Status of Aliens Act 1914 1914 Government of Ireland Act 1914 1914 Welsh Church Act 1914 Royal Proclamation of 1917 1917 Representation of the People Act 1918 1918 Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919 Government of Ireland Act 1920 Anglo-Irish Treaty 1921 Church of Scotland Act 1921 1921 Irish Free State (Agreement) Act 1922 Irish Free State Constitution Act 1922 Ireland (Confirm. of Agreement) Act 1925 1925 Balfour Declaration of 1926 1926 Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927 Representation of the People Act 1928 1928 Eire (Confirmation of Agreement) Act 1929 1929 Statute of Westminster 1931 HM Declaration of Abdication Act 1936 1936 Regency Act 1937 1937 Regency Act 1943 1943 Indian Independence Act 1947 Burma Independence Act 1947 British Nationality Act 1948 1948 Representation of the People Act 1948 1948 Ireland Act 1949 1949 Statute of the Council of Europe 1949 Parliament Act 1949 1949 Regency Act 1953 1953 Royal Titles Act 1953 1953 European Convention on Human Rights 1953 Interpretation Act (NI) 1954 HC Disqualification Act 1957 1957 Life Peerages Act 1958 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 1962 Peerage Act 1963 West Indies Act 1967 1967 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 1968 Immigration Act 1971 EC Treaty of Accession 1972 NI (Temporary Provisions) Act 1972 European Communities Act 1972 Local Government Act 1972 UK joins the European Communities 1973 Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 NI border poll 1973 NI Constitution Act 1973 House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 Referendum Act 1975 EC membership referendum 1975 Interpretation Act 1978 Scotland Act 1978 1978 Wales Act 1978 1978 Scottish devolution referendum 1979 Welsh devolution referendum 1979 British Nationality Act 1981 1981 Representation of the People Act 1983 1983 Representation of the People Act 1985 1985 Maastricht Treaty 1993 Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 Referendums (Scotland & Wales) Act 1997 Scottish devolution referendum 1997 Welsh devolution referendum 1997 Good Friday Agreement 1998 Northern Ireland Act 1998 Government of Wales Act 1998 Human Rights Act 1998 Scotland Act 1998 House of Lords Act 1999 Representation of the People Act 2000 2000 Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 Constitutional Reform Act 2005 Government of Wales Act 2006 2006 Northern Ireland Act 2009 2009 Lisbon Treaty 2009 Parl. Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 Welsh devolution referendum 2011 Alternative Vote referendum 2011 European Union Act 2011 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 Scotland Act 2012 2012 Succession to the Crown Act 2013 2013 Scottish independence referendum 2014 House of Lords Reform Act 2014 Wales Act 2014 2014 HL (Expulsion and Suspension) Act 2015 European Union Referendum Act 2015 EU membership referendum 2016 Scotland Act 2016 2016 Wales Act 2017 2017 EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 Invocation of Article 50 2017 European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 EU Withdrawal Act 2019 2019 EU Withdrawal Act (No. 2) 2019 Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 UK leaves the European Union 2020 EU (Future Relationship) Act 2020

• The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 annexed the legal system of Wales to England[13] to create the single entity commonly known for centuries simply as England, but later officially renamed England and Wales. Wales was described (in varying combinations) as the "country", "principality", and "dominion" of Wales.[13][14] Outside Wales, England was not given a specific name or term. The Laws in Wales Acts have subsequently been repealed.[15][16]
• The Acts of Union 1707 refer to both England and Scotland as a "part" of a united kingdom of Great Britain[17]
• The Acts of Union 1800 use "part" in the same way to refer to England and Scotland. However, they use the word "country" to describe Great Britain and Ireland respectively, when describing trade between them[18]
• The Government of Ireland Act 1920 described Great Britain, Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland as "countries" in provisions relating to taxation.
• The Northern Ireland Act 1998, which repealed the Government of Ireland Act 1920, does not use any term to describe Northern Ireland.

According to the British Social Attitudes Survey, there are broadly two interpretations of British identity, with ethnic and civic dimensions:

The first group, which we term the ethnic dimension, contained the items about birthplace, ancestry, living in Britain, and sharing British customs and traditions. The second, or civic group, contained the items about feeling British, respecting laws and institutions, speaking English, and having British citizenship.[23]

Of the two perspectives of British identity, the civic definition has become the dominant idea and in this capacity, Britishness is sometimes considered an institutional or overarching state identity.[24][25] This has been used to explain why first-, second- and third-generation immigrants are more likely to describe themselves as British, rather than English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh, because it is an "institutional, inclusive" identity, that can be acquired through naturalisation and British nationality law; the vast majority of people in the United Kingdom who are from an ethnic minority feel British.[26] However, this attitude is more common in England than in Scotland or Wales; "white English people perceived themselves as English first and as British second, and most people from ethnic minority backgrounds perceived themselves as British, but none identified as English, a label they associated exclusively with white people".[27] Contrariwise, in Scotland and Wales "there was a much stronger identification with each country than with Britain."[28]

Studies and surveys have reported that the majority of the Scots and Welsh see themselves as both Scottish/Welsh and British though with some differences in emphasis. The Commission for Racial Equality found that with respect to notions of nationality in Britain, "the most basic, objective and uncontroversial conception of the British people is one that includes the English, the Scots and the Welsh".[29] However, "English participants tended to think of themselves as indistinguishably English or British, while both Scottish and Welsh participants identified themselves much more readily as Scottish or Welsh than as British".[29] Some people opted "to combine both identities" as "they felt Scottish or Welsh, but held a British passport and were therefore British", whereas others saw themselves as exclusively Scottish or exclusively Welsh and "felt quite divorced from the British, whom they saw as the English".[29] Commentators have described this latter phenomenon as "nationalism", a rejection of British identity because some Scots and Welsh interpret it as "cultural imperialism imposed" upon the United Kingdom by "English ruling elites",[30] or else a response to a historical misappropriation of equating the word "English" with "British",[31] which has "brought about a desire among Scots, Welsh and Irish to learn more about their heritage and distinguish themselves from the broader British identity".[32] The propensity for nationalistic feeling varies greatly across the UK, and can rise and fall over time.[33]

The state-funded Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey,[34] part of a joint project between the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast, has addressed the issue of identity in since it started polling in 1998. It reported that 37% of people identified as British, whilst 29% identified as Irish and 24% identified as Northern Irish. 3% opted to identify themselves as Ulster, whereas 7% stated 'other'. Of the two main religious groups, 68% of Protestants identified as British as did 6% of Catholics; 60% of Catholics identified as Irish as did 3% of Protestants. 21% of Protestants and 26% of Catholics identified as Northern Irish.[35]

For Northern Ireland, however, the results of the Life & Times Survey are not the whole story. The poll asks for a single preference, whereas many people easily identify as any combination of British and Irish, or British, Northern Irish and Irish, or Irish and Northern Irish. The 2014 Life & Times Survey addressed this to an extent by choosing two of the options from the identity question: British and Irish. It found that, while 28% of respondents stated they felt "British not Irish" and 26% felt "Irish not British", 39% of respondents felt some combination of both identities. Six percent chose 'other description'.[36]

The identity question is confounded further by identity with politics and religion, and particularly by a stance on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Again in 2014, the Life & Times Survey asked what respondents felt should be the "long term future for Northern Ireland". 66% of respondents felt the future should be as a part of the UK, with or without devolved government. 17% felt that Northern Ireland should unify with the Republic of Ireland. 50% of specifically Roman Catholics considered that the long-term future should be as part of the UK, with 32% opting for separation. 87% of respondents identifying as any Protestant denomination opted for remaining part of the UK, with only 4% opting for separation. Of those respondents who declared no religion, 62% opted for remaining part of the UK, with 9% opting for separation.[36]

Following devolution and the significant broadening of autonomous governance throughout the UK in the late 1990s, debate has taken place across the United Kingdom on the relative value of full independence,[37] an option that was rejected[38] by the Scottish people in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.

Cornwall is administered as a county of England, but the Cornish people are a recognised national minority, included under the terms of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 2014.[39][40]

Each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales has separate national governing bodies for sports and competes separately in many international sporting competitions.[41][42][43][44] Each country of the United Kingdom has a national football team, and competes as a separate national team in the various disciplines in the Commonwealth Games.[45] At the Olympic Games, the United Kingdom is represented by the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team, although athletes from Northern Ireland can choose to join the Republic of Ireland's Olympic team.[45][46] In addition to Northern Ireland having its own national governing bodies for some sports such as Association football and Netball, for others, such as rugby union and cricket, Northern Ireland participates with the Republic of Ireland in a joint All-Ireland team. England and Wales field a joint cricket team.

The United Kingdom participates in the Eurovision Song Contest as a single entity, though there have been calls for separate and Scottish and Welsh entrants. In 2017, Wales participated alone in the spin-off "Choir of the Year".

• British Overseas Territories
• English independence
• Heptarchy
• History of the formation of the United Kingdom
• List of First Ministers
• Northern Irish independence
• Scottish independence
• Welsh independence

• Park, Alison (2005), British Social Attitudes: The 21st Report, SAGE, ISBN 978-0-7619-4278-8
• Commission for Racial Equality (November 2005), Citizenship and Belonging: What is Britishness? (PDF), Commission for Racial Equality, ISBN 1-85442-573-0
• Ward, Paul (2004), Britishness Since 1870, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-203-49472-1

• Gallagher, Michael (2006). The United Kingdom Today. London: Franklin Watts. ISBN 978-0-7496-6488-6.