Local government in the United Kingdom has origins that pre-date the United Kingdom itself with each of the four countries of the United Kingdom having a separate system. For details see:

For the history of local government in each country, see:

For local government entities in each country, see

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain) is a sovereign state located off the north-western coast of continental Europe. The country includes the island of Great Britain, 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 sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea.

The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. It is a country in its own right and consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history. British influence can still be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former territories.

Local government is a form of public administration which in a majority of contexts, exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state. The term is used to contrast with offices at state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or (where appropriate) federal government. Local governments generally act within powers delegated to them by legislation or directives of the higher level of government. In primitive societies the lowest level of local government is the village headman or tribal chief. Federal states such as the United States have two levels of government above the local level: the governments of the fifty states and the federal national government whose relations are governed by the constitution of the United States. Local government in the United States originated in the colonial period and has been modified since then: the highest level of local government is at county level.^{[citation needed]}

The question of Municipal Autonomy is a key question of public administration and governance. The institutions of local government vary greatly between countries, and even where similar arrangements exist, the terminology often varies. Common names for local government entities include state, province, region, department, county, prefecture, district, city, township, town, borough, parish, municipality, shire and village.

Eric Jack Pickles (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party politician. Pickles was appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government of the coalition government headed by Prime Minister David Cameron on 12 May 2010.

He was the Chairman of the Conservative Party until being replaced by Baroness Warsi in May 2010 and has been Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar in Essex since 1992. He was Co-Chairman of the Joint Committee Against Racism between 1982 and 1987.

Pickles is a member of the controversial Peniel Pentecostal Church, a local "happy clappy" church located in Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood, Essex.

Born in Keighley, Yorkshire, he went to Greenhead Grammar School (which became Greenhead High School and is now University Academy Keighley) on Greenhead Road in Utley, north Keighley, then attended Leeds Polytechnic. He was born into a Labour supporting family – his great grandfather was one of the founders of the Independent Labour Party, and described himself as "massively inclined" towards communism as a boy – but he joined the Conservative Party in 1968 after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia.

Trevor Paul Moore (born April 4, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director best known as a founding member of the New York City-based comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know, who had their own sketch comedy series on IFC which ran for five seasons. Moore's other note-worthy projects include The Trevor Moore Show, Uncle Morty's Dub Shack, and Miss March.

Moore was born in Montclair, New Jersey; his parents are former Christian rock musicians. Moore, like his future Whitest Kids U' Know comrades Sam Brown and Zach Cregger studied in Manhattan's School of Visual Arts. When Trevor was at the age of 10, he created a comic for his school newspaper. Trevor said in the Bonnie Hunt Show, "The principal put an end to my strip, because it was offensive and kept making fun of kids at school".

In 1996, a show dubbed The Trevor Moore Show ran on Charlottesville Public-access television in Charlottesville, Virginia, and began to garner a following among the local college community. In 1998, Moore was offered a deal to produce new episodes of The Trevor Moore Show for WADA-TV, formerly a PAX TV affiliate. The show only lasted sixteen episodes before backlash from skits like "I Wonder Who Died Today?" (a parody newscast from the local senior citizens home) resulted in the show's immediate cancellation, due to offensive material. It was his belief that the show would only air at night, but halfway through the first season he found out that it was being re-run at 9 AM Saturday mornings. The show also featured the "walking-talking box." Trevor graduated from the Covenant School in Charlottesville in 1998.