United Kingdom » History

The United Kingdom has been a member of the European Union since 1973. The attitude of the present Labour government towards further integration with this organisation is mixed, with the Conservative Party favouring a return of some powers and competencies to the state, and the Liberal Democrat party more positive toward the EU. A referendum on the issue is planned if and when five economic tests indicate that entry into the Eurozone would be beneficial. However the UK's economy is one of the strongest in Europe and public opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to the Euro. The UK's economy has grown faster than the other major European economies of Germany, France, and Italy.

 

Longer Historical Perspective

The present United Kingdom is the latest of several unions formed over the last 840 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate political entities since the 9th century. Wales, under the control of English monarchs from the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the independent states of England and Scotland, having been in personal union since 1603, agreed to a political union as the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1541 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Independence for the now Republic of Ireland in 1922 followed the partition of the island of Ireland two years previously, with six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster remaining within the UK, which then changed to the current name in 1927.