- Government of England
There has not been a government of England since 1707 when the
Kingdom of England ceased to exist as a sovereignstate , as it merged with theKingdom of Scotland to form theKingdom of Great Britain . Both kingdoms had a single monarch since 1603 underJames VI of Scotland who also becameJames I of England that year (seeUnion of the Crowns ).Prior to the
Acts of Union 1707 , England was ruled by a monarch and theParliament of England . Prior to 1707, the government of England was in fact the government ofEngland and Wales sinceWales was joined to England under theStatute of Rhuddlan in 1284 and from theLaws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 ,England and Wales formed a single legal system.The
Kingdom of Great Britain continued from 1707 until 1865 when it merged with theKingdom of Ireland to form theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , which itself became theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922 upon independence for most of the island of Ireland. The UK since then has gone through significant change to its system of government, with devolved parliaments, assemblies andgovernment s in Scotland,Wales andNorthern Ireland . England, however, remains under the full jurisdiction, on all matters, of theParliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and theUK government as no devolved administration has been created for England within the new structure. This situation has led to the anomaly, known as theWest Lothian question , which is the fact that Scottish MPs are able to vote on legislation that affects only England whereas English MPs can not vote on certain Scottish matters due to devolution. In extreme cases, the votes of Scottish MPs could be crucial in helping pass legislation for England that the majority of English MPs may oppose.One possible solution to the
West Lothian question would be devolution to the English regions but attempts have been unsuccessful so far. However a series of unelected regional assemblies have been established in addition to the creation ofRegional Government Offices . One part of England,Greater London , has a degree of devolved power (although weaker than that of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) with power vested in an electedMayor of London , currentlyBoris Johnson and theLondon Assembly .The country is therefore officially divided into the following in terms of governance:
*The 9 English regions,
*The modern day local authority areas,
*The geographical/ceremonial counties of England.The incumbent government has no plans to create a
Devolved English parliament .'English' Government Departments of the UK Government
Several Government Departments of the
UK Government have responsibilities for matters affecting England alone:* The
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards,agriculture ,fisheries and rural communities in England.* The
Department of Health , (DoH) has responsibility for government policy onhealth ,social care and theNational Health Service (NHS) in England.* The
Department for Communities and Local Government .Other departments deal mainly with matters affecting England though they also have some UK wide responsibilities in certain areas;
* The
Department for Transport ee also
*
Politics of England
*West Lothian question
*Devolved English parliament
*List of Parliaments of England
*Campaign for an English Parliament England topics
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