THE UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is an island country. United Kingdom is made up of Northern Ireland and Great Britain which consists of England, Wales and Scotland. The capital of the country is London and the dialing code is +44. The Republic of Ireland is a sovereign, independent and democratic State. The capital of this country is Dublin and the country dialing code is +353. This sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom.

 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a constitutional monarchy with Parliamentary Government. The system of government in Britain has developed over many centuries and the British empire has been the world-famous empire. Today, United Kingdom has elections where people choose their government.

 

Once upon a time there were Kings and Queens who ruled with absolute power and authority by taking advice from a council of religious leaders and nobles but today, we find that the British monarchy is a Constitutional monarchy. The monarch undertakes the constitutional duties which are set as per law while the ability to make and pass legislation resides with an elected Parliament. Constitutional monarchy is the system of government where the power and authority of the monarch is limited or restricted by laws.

The term ‘Brexit’ is the combination of two words namely ‘Britain’ and ‘Exit’. It is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from European Union (EU in short). In the year 2016, UK had held a referendum on its membership of EU where the term referendum means a general vote by the electorates in a country or a particular area on a particular political question or proposal of a law which has been referred to them for their direct vote. Electorate means the people in a country who are entitled to vote.

 

This time the question before the electorates was whether UK should remain a member of EU or leave the EU and more than 50% of the voters voted to leave the EU and thus on 31st January 2020 the United Kingdom left the European Union. This exit of UK from the EU is known as Brexit.