United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign state in the European Union. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of "Great Britain" (a term also applied loosely to refer to the whole country), the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands.Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a land border with another state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its south and the Celtic Sea to its south-southwest. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 93,800 square miles (243,000 km²), the UK is the 80th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also is the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 64.5 million inhabitants.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. Its capital city is London, an important global city and financial centre with an urban population of 10,310,000, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union. The current monarch—since 6 February 1952—is Queen Elizabeth II. The UK consists of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The latter three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey are not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown dependencies with the British Government responsible for defence and international representation.

United Kingdom (disambiguation)

The United Kingdom is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe.

United Kingdom may also refer to:

United Kingdom (album)

United Kingdom is the fourth album by American Music Club. It was recorded primarily for the UK, where the band had a larger following than in their native USA, and consists of a mixture of studio and live tracks. The LP was produced by Tom Mallon who also produced the band's previous three LPs, The Restless Stranger, Engine and California. United Kingdom contained the song "Kathleen", the most obvious of many that Mark Eitzel has composed about his long-term muse, Kathleen Burns.

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Eitzel.

Personnel

United Kingdom general election, 1906

The United Kingdom general election of 1906 was held from 12 January to 8 February 1906.

The Liberals, led by Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, won a landslide majority victory in the election. The Conservatives under Arthur Balfour, which had been in government until the month before the election, lost more than half their seats, including Balfour's own seat in Manchester East. The election saw a 5.4% swing from the Conservative Party to the Liberal Party, the largest ever seen at the time. This has resulted in the 1906 General Election being dubbed the 'Liberal landslide', and is now ranked alongside the 1945 and 1997 General Elections as one of the largest landslide election victories.

The Labour Representation Committee was far more successful than in 1900 and after the election would be reformed as the "Labour Party" with 29 MPs and Keir Hardie as leader. The Irish Parliamentary Party, led by John Redmond, achieved its seats with a relatively low number of votes, as 73 candidates stood unopposed.

United Kingdom general election, 2010

The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday, 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, won the largest number of votes and seats but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. Unlike in 1974, the potential for a hung parliament had this time been widely considered and predicted and both the country and politicians were better prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result. The coalition government that was subsequently formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome.

United Kingdom general election, 2015

The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons, the dominant house of Parliament. It was the first general election at the end of a fixed term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day.

Polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be 'too close to call' and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote, which bore resemblance to their surprise victory in the 1992 general election. The British Polling Council began an inquiry into the variance between opinion polls and the actual result. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservative Party won 36.9% of the vote and 330 seats, this time with a working majority of 12. This was despite a small swing from Conservative to Labour. Conservative leader David Cameron subsequently formed the first Conservative majority government since 1992. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw a small increase in their vote share to 30.4%, but incurred a net loss of seats to return 232 MPs. This was their lowest seat tally since the 1987 election. Senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated.

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, because of local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, owing in part to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas.

The result was an unexpected landslide victory for Clement Attlee's Labour Party, over Winston Churchill's Conservatives, giving Labour its first majority government, and a mandate to implement its postwar reforms. The 12.0% national swing from the Conservative Party to the Labour Party remains the largest ever achieved in a British general election.

Background

Held less than two months after VE Day, it was the first general election since 1935, as general elections had been suspended during the Second World War. Attlee, leader of the Labour party, refused Churchill's offer of continuing the Wartime Coalition until the Allied defeat of Japan. Parliament was dissolved on 15 June.