United Kingdom

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Countries of the United Kingdom|Administrative geography of the United Kingdom|List of counties in the United Kingdom}}

The geographical division of the United Kingdom into [[Counties of the United Kingdom|counties]] or shires began in England and Scotland in the early Middle Ages, and was completed throughout Great Britain and Ireland by the early Modern Period.<ref>Hackwood Frederick William: ''The Story of the Shire, Being the Lore, History and Evolution of English County Institutions'' (1851)</ref> Modern local government by elected councils, partly based on the ancient counties, was established by separate Acts of Parliament: in England and Wales in [[Local Government Act 1888|1888]], Scotland in [[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889|1889]] and Ireland in [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898|1898]], meaning there is no consistent system of administrative or geographic demarcation across the UK.<ref>{{Cite web |last=United Nations Economic and Social Council |author-link=United Nations Economic and Social Council |date=August 2007 |title=Ninth UN Conference on the standardization of Geographical Names |url=http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/9th-uncsgn-docs/report%20of%209th%20uncsgn%20n0750902%20en.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091211213055/http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/9th-UNCSGN-Docs/E-CONF-98-48-Add1.pdf |archive-date=11 December 2009 |access-date=21 October 2008 |publisher=UN Statistics Division}}</ref>
Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barlow |first=I.M. |title=Metropolitan Government |publisher=Routledge |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-415-02099-2 |location=London}}</ref>

[[Local government in England]] is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to local arrangements. The upper-tier [[subdivisions of England]] are the nine [[Regions of England|regions]], now used primarily for statistical purposes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to the national site of the Government Office Network |url=http://www.gos.gov.uk/national |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090606073647/http://www.gos.gov.uk/national |archive-date=6 June 2009 |access-date=3 July 2008 |publisher=Government Offices}}</ref> One of the regions, [[Greater London Authority|Greater London]], has had a directly elected assembly and mayor since 2000 following popular support for the proposal in a [[1998 Greater London Authority referendum|1998 referendum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A short history of London government |url=http://www.london.gov.uk/london-life/city-government/history.jsp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421023053/http://www.london.gov.uk/london-life/city-government/history.jsp |archive-date=21 April 2008 |access-date=4 October 2008 |publisher=Greater London Authority}}</ref>

[[Local government in Scotland]] is divided into [[subdivisions of Scotland|32 council areas]] with a wide variation in size and population. The cities of [[Glasgow]], Edinburgh, [[Aberdeen]] and [[Dundee]] are separate council areas, as is the [[Politics of the Highland council area|Highland Council]], which includes a third of Scotland's area but only just over 200,000&nbsp;people. Local councils are made up of elected councillors, of whom there are 1,223.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=STV in Scotland: Local Government Elections 2007 |url=http://www.psa.ac.uk/2007/pps/Bennie.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110222124635/http://www.psa.ac.uk/2007/pps/Bennie.pdf |archive-date=22 February 2011 |access-date=2 August 2008 |publisher=Political Studies Association}}</ref>

[[Local government in Wales]] consists of 22 unitary authorities, each led by a leader and cabinet elected by the council itself. These include the cities of Cardiff, Swansea and Newport, which are unitary authorities in their own right.<ref name="unitary">{{Cite web |year=2014 |title=Unitary authorities |url=http://gov.wales/topics/localgovernment/local-authorities/?lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150310210146/http://gov.wales/topics/localgovernment/local-authorities/?lang=en |archive-date=10 March 2015 |access-date=9 March 2015 |publisher=Welsh Government}}</ref> Elections are held every four years under the first-past-the-post system.<ref name="unitary" />

[[Local government in Northern Ireland]] since 1973, has been organised into 26 district councils, each elected by single transferable vote. Their powers are limited to services such as waste collection, dog control, and maintaining parks and cemeteries.<ref name="Devenport">{{Cite news |last=Devenport |first=Mark |date=18 November 2005 |title=NI local government set for shake-up |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4449092.stm |access-date=15 November 2008 |archive-date=12 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212221731/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4449092.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils and replace the present system.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Foster announces the future shape of local government |date=13 March 2008 |publisher=Northern Ireland Executive |url=http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-doe/news-doe-130308-foster-announces-the.htm |access-date=20 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725002254/http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-doe/news-doe-130308-foster-announces-the.htm |archive-date=25 July 2008}}</ref>