United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

"England" redirects here. For pre-1707 history of England, see Kingdom of England (927–1707).

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ruvaneth Unys Breten Veur hag Iwerdhon Gledh Reeriaght Unnaneysit y Vretyn Vooar as Nerin Hwoaie An Rìoghachd Aonaichte na Breatainn Mhòr agus Eirinn a Tuath Unitit Kinrick o Great Breetain an Northren Ireland Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd Iwerddon
Flag Coat of arms
Capital and largest city	London
Dominant mode of production	Imperialist Capitalism
Government	Unitary parliamentary bourgeois state
• Monarch	Charles Windsor
• Prime Minister	Rishi Sunak
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	House of Lords
• Lower house	House of Commons
History
• Annexation of Wales by the Kingdom of England	1536
• Annexation of Scotland by the Kingdom of England	1707
• Annexation of Ireland by Great Britain	1801
• Independence of Republic of Ireland from United Kingdom	1922
Area
• Total	242,495 km² (78th)
Population
• 2020 estimate	67,886,004
Labour
• Labour force	34,708,550
• Labour force participation	78.1%
• Occupation	agriculture: 1.3% industry: 15.2% services: 83.5%
• Unemployment rate	4.8%
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate
• Total	$3.124 trillion
• Per capita	$46,344
Exports	2019 estimate
• Value	$894.077 billion
• Commodities	cars, gas turbines, gold, crude petroleum, packaged medicines
• Partners	United States (15%), Germany (10%), China (7%)
Imports	2019 estimate
• Value	$924.69 billion
• Commodities	gold, cars, crude petroleum, refined petroleum, broadcasting equipment
• Partners	Germany (13%), China (10%), Netherlands (7%)
External debt	$8.721 trillion (2nd)
Gini (2018)	33.5%
HDI (2019)	0.932
Currency	Pound sterling (GBP)
Driving side	left
Calling code	+44
ISO 3166 code	GB
Internet TLD	.uk

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, often shortened to the United Kingdom or UK, is an imperialist island country located in Europe. It comprises England, Scotland, and Wales and is also currently occupying six counties of Ireland. The UK was a founding member of NATO and SEATO. It has the fourth largest military budget in the world and the second most foreign military bases behind the United States of America. MI6, the British secret police, has connections to the NSA and Five Eyes. The British Empire was a major colonial power and was responsible for over 160 million deaths in India alone. Britain retains influence in its former empire using imperialist organisations such at the Commonwealth.

History

Great Britain

Following the bourgeois revolution of 1688, the number of capital crimes rose from 50 to over 200, and most of the new additions were minor property crimes. Stealing a single shilling was punishable by death. The bourgeoisie also enclosed and privatized common lands held by the peasantry. Beginning in 1717, Britain began mass deportations of (usually poor) convicts to the colonies.

In July 1745 Charles Stuart led the last Jacobite Rebellion in an attempt to restore the House of Stuart as the British Monarchs. Following defeat at the battle of Culloden, Charles fled back to France in June 1746 ending the rebellion. Following the rebellion Henry Pelham's Whig Government started a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the highlander population, supressing their culture and forcibly removing them from their land.

Slavery was banned within England in 1772 but continued to exist in its colonies. Free Africans fought for the British during the Statesian Revolution, but many were deported to Sierra Leone afterwards.

England suspended habeas corpus for eight years starting in 1794.

Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom suspended habeas corpus again in 1817 and committed the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. Between 1800 and 1850, it deported 1,800 dissidents to Australia for political crimes, including Chartists, Jacobins, and Irish people.

Motivated by a fear of the French Revolution, the Whig prime minister Charles Grey passed the Reform Act of 1832, which expanded suffrage from 400,000 to 650,000. It prevented landlords from appointing rural representatives but did not reach the universal male suffrage demanded by the Chartists. Around the same time, the UK repealed the Corn Laws, which had imposed tariffs and set high prices for wheat. The Poor Law of 1834 worsened conditions in workhouses and abolished outside relief for the poor.

During the late 19th century, Benjamin Disraeli, despite his pro-slavery views, expanded voting rights to sections of the working class. His 1867 Reform Act allowed non-Anglicans (including Catholics, Jews, and some Protestants) to vote.

Britain participated in the First World War on the side of the Entente, fearing that German domination of Europe would threaten the security of the British Empire. Following German defeat, Britain took control of several colonies previously belonging to the Central powers. In Africa, Britain secured Namibia, and Tanzania from Germany whilst in the Middle East, the British received Palestine, Jordan and Iraq from the Ottoman Empire.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

In 1939, the British made a secret agreement with Nazi Germany to stay out Germany's spheres of influence in Eastern Europe and avoid an alliance with the Soviet Union in exchange for Germany not attacking the British Empire.

Following the loss of its colonial empire, the UK was in a severe economic crisis by the early 1970s. Dockworkers and miners organized large strikes in 1972 and 1974. The Labour government of James Callaghan applied for an IMF loan in 1976 and imposed austerity on the working people.

Margaret Thatcher blamed unions for the crisis and took power in 1979. She introduced mass privatisation and strengthened monopolies while increasing imperialist aggression against Ireland. Under Thatcher's rule, unemployment, crime, and poverty increased. Both the Conservative and Labour parties opposed the 1984–85 miners' strike.

When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, he continued many of Thatcher's policies while creating social democratic reforms to weaken the revolutionary movement.

Colonialism

See main article: British Imperialism

The British Empire colonized parts of North America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania and controlled nearly 25% of the world's land area at its peak.

Politics

The UK is a Bourgeois democracy organised as a constitutional monarchy and a unitary parliamentary democracy. The Parliament is made up of three central elements; the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Crown. The UK is made up of 650 constituencies, the residents of which vote in one MP, in a first past the post electoral system, to represent them in the House of Commons, the house responsible for creating legislature, and the party with the most MPs forms the government. The House of Lords and the Monarch are both unelected, the formers job is to scrutinise legislature and return it to the commons for amendments whilst the latter performs ceremonial tasks, and wastes public money.

General elections for the House of Commons take place at most every five years but may be called earlier should the sitting government decides to call for one. Until the late 19th century, the landowning aristocracy completely controlled the House of Commons. In seven general elections from 1760 to 1800, less than 10% of rural seats were contested. From 1716 to 1911, Parliament members were elected every seven years.

It was only in 2015 that a law was put in place which allowed constituents to recall their representative but this can only be activated should the MP have broken a law or rule and been suspended from parliament. Following the conditions being met, a minimum of 10% of their constituents must sign a recall petition within six weeks. If the recall petition is successful then a bi-election is called for their seat, the recalled MP may stand in this election if they wish to. There is no course of recall for an MP that governs against the wishes of their constituents, MPs are effectively unaccountable until the following general election.

Devolved governments

Country	Population	Total Area	Capital	Parliament	First Minister
England	56,489,800 (2021)	130,279 km2 (50,301 sq mi)	London	none	none
Scotland	5,436,600 (2022)	77,933 km2 (30,090.1 sq mi)	Edinburgh	Scottish Parliament	Humza Yousaf
Wales	3,267,501 (2022)	20,779 km2 (8,022.82 sq mi)	Cardiff	Senedd	Mark Drakeford
Northern Ireland	1,903,100 (2021)	14,130 km2 (5,455.62 sq mi)	Belfast	Northern Ireland Assembly	vacant

Scotland

Scotland is split up into 32 counties, and 59 constituencies, most of these constituencies are held by MPs for the Scottish Nationalist Party who also control most seats in the Scottish parliament. The Scottish Government and Parliament were established in 1999 with its powers and duties set out in UK parliament legislation, this made Scotland the largest region of the UK to have its own parliament. There are 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), for each person in Scotland they are represented by one constituency MSP and 7 regional MSPs each elected by a bourgeois system of proportional representation called the Additional Member System.

Active Political Parties

Conservative and Unionist Party

The Conservative party is a right-wing to far-right neoliberal party currently lead by Rishi Sunak, it is the current ruling party of the United Kingdom.

Labour Party

Labour is a bourgeois social-democratic party that is a de facto neoliberal party since 2020. The party is currently lead by Keir Starmer.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are a liberal party currently lead by Ed Davey.

Scottish Nationalist Party

The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) is a nationalist social-democratic party that advocates for an independent Scotland. The party is currently lead by Humza Yousaf.

Communist party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

The Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) (CPGB-ML) is the largest Marxist-Leninist political party in the UK. CPGB-ML holds reactionary ideas regarding LGBT rights dismissing them as identity politics.

Communist Party of Britain

The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a revisionist communist party currently lead by Robert Griffiths.

Military

The UK has 145 military bases in 42 countries and territories, including five countries encircling China. The 15 British bases in Saudi Arabia are contributing the Saudi invasion of Yemen. In 2021, the British government published a document saying it would expand its nuclear arsenal from 200 to 260 weapons, which is a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

See also

• List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom