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1. London – London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
2. Sadiq Khan – Sadiq Aman Khan PC is a British politician and the current Mayor of London since 2016. He was the Member of Parliament for Tooting from 2005 to 2016, a member of the Labour Party, he is situated on the partys soft left and has been ideologically characterised as a social democrat. Born in Tooting, South London to a working-class British Pakistani family and he subsequently worked as a solicitor specialising in human rights, and chaired Liberty for three years. Joining Labour, Khan was a Councillor for the London Borough of Wandsworth from 1994 to 2006 before being elected MP for Tooting in 2005. Under the Labour government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown he was appointed Minister of State for Communities in 2008, later becoming Minister of State for Transport. A key ally of Labour leader Ed Miliband, he served in Milibands Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Shadow Lord Chancellor, Khan was elected Mayor of London in the May 2016 mayoral election, succeeding Conservative Party Mayor Boris Johnson. He immediately resigned as MP for Tooting and his election as Mayor of London made him the citys first ethnic minority mayor, and the first Muslim to become mayor of a major Western capital. Khan held the largest personal mandate of any politician in the history of the United Kingdom, as mayor he introduced reforms to limit charges on Londons public transport, backed airport expansion, and focused on uniting the citys varied communities. He was a supporter of the unsuccessful Britain Stronger in Europe campaign to retain UK membership of the European Union. His work to improve relations between Muslim communities and wider British society has seen him receive security threats from both Islamist and far-right activists. Khan was born at St Georges Hospital in Tooting, South London and his grandparents migrated from Bombay Presidency, British India to Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947, and his parents migrated to England from Pakistan shortly before Khan was born. His late father, Amanullah Khan, worked as a bus driver for over 25 years, his mother, Khan and his siblings grew up in a three-bedroom council flat on the Henry Prince Estate in Earlsfield. He attended Fircroft Primary School and then Ernest Bevin School, a local comprehensive, Khan studied science and mathematics at A-level, in the hope of eventually qualifying as a dentist. A teacher recommended that he read law, as he had an argumentative personality, the teachers suggestion, along with the American television programme L. A. Law, inspired Khan to do so. He entered the University of North London to study law, from his earliest years, Khan worked, I was surrounded by my mum and dad working all the time, so as soon as I could get a job, I got a job. I got a round, a Saturday job—some summers I laboured on a building site. The family continues to send money to relatives in Pakistan, because were blessed being in this country. ”He and his family often encountered racism, which led to him and his brothers taking up boxing at the Earlsfield Amateur Boxing Club. While studying for his degree, from the age of 18 to 21, before entering the House of Commons in 2005, Khan practised as a solicitor
3. Deputy Mayor of London – The Deputy Mayor of London is a member of the London Assembly appointed by the Mayor of London in accordance with the Greater London Authority Act 1999. No particular duties are specified by the Act, except to be available as temporary Mayor during a vacancy or temporary incapacity of the Mayor, the Deputy Mayors salary in 2007–08 is £90,954. The 2000 London mayoral election was won by Ken Livingstone, who ran as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party and he announced that he would rotate the position of deputy mayor equally between the four parties represented in the London Assembly. He offered the role to Nicky Gavron of the Labour Party for the first year, after some political manoeuvring, she accepted. However, in 2001, Ken Livingstone decided not to offer the role to the Conservatives, claiming it would be disruptive, in 2002 the Liberal Democrats were asked to nominate a candidate but declined, saying that it would be better to scrutinise the mayor from an independent position. In 2003, the Greens accepted an offer to nominate a deputy mayor and selected Jenny Jones, Nicky Gavron was originally chosen as the Labour candidate for the 2004 London mayoral election but she stepped aside when Ken Livingstone was invited to rejoin the party. They then ran on a joint ticket as Labours candidates for the posts of mayor and she served as Ken Livingstones deputy for the duration of his second term. In his first term, Ken Livingstone came under fire for delegating his powers to his Chief of Staff, after Boris Johnson became Mayor in May 2008, he appointed Richard Barnes as his statutory Deputy Mayor, with the specific responsibility for community cohesion and regeneration. However, he gave the title of Deputy Mayor to several other people, each with a specific role, Ian Clement, Kit Malthouse. Sir Simon Milton, a councillor, served as Deputy Mayor of Policy and Planning. Sir Edward Lister was then appointed Deputy Mayor of Policy and Planning, Richard Barnes ceased to be Deputy Mayor on 4 May 2012, when he lost his seat in the Assembly. Victoria Borwick succeeded him in the post, Borwick resigned in May 2015, following her election as Member of Parliament for Kensington, being succeeded by Roger Evans. The 2016 London mayoral election was won by Sadiq Khan, a member of the Labour Party, following the election, he made Joanne McCartney Statutory Deputy Mayor. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has appointed Rajesh Agrawal as his deputy mayor for business
4. London Assembly election, 2016 – The 2016 London Assembly election was an election held on 5 May 2016 to elect the members of the London Assembly. It took place on the day as the London mayoral election. The election system used is called the Additional Member System, there are 14 constituencies that elect one member each to the Assembly. These seats have been won only by the Labour Party or the Conservative Party, the remaining 11 seats are distributed by a second vote, by a modified DHondt method of closed-list voting, with a 5% minimum threshold. These seats have been won by other parties too, namely the Green Party, the Liberal Democrats and UKIP, the overall result is an attempted compromise between constituency representation and London-wide proportional representation. Those who were eligible had to be registered to vote before 19 April 2016 in order to part in this election. Labour received the largest ever number of votes for a party in a London Assembly election, the Conservative Party won just 8 Assembly seats, its worst-ever performance in a London Assembly election. The Green Party once again elected 2 Assembly members, and UKIP returned to the London Assembly for the first time since the election of 2004, the Liberal Democrats elected just 1 Assembly member, their worst-ever result. The Womens Equality Party, standing for the first time, attracted 91,772 votes on the regional list, no other party polled above 2%. Source, Rejected Ballots 29,733 Total Votes 2,645,409 Note that party descriptions can be used as alternatives to the party name
5. London Fire Brigade – The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for London. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act of 1865 under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. Dany Cotton is the Commissioner for Fire and Emergency Planning, which includes the position of Chief Fire Officer, statutory responsibility for the running of the brigade lies with the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2013/14 the LFB handled 171,067999 emergency calls, of the calls it actually mobilised to,20,934 were fires, including 10,992 that were of a serious nature, making it one of the busiest fire brigades in the world. In the same 12-month period, it received 3,172 hoax calls, the highest number of any UK fire service, in 2015/16 the LFB received 171,488 emergency calls. These consisted of,20,773 fires,30,066 special service callouts and it also conducts emergency planning and performs fire safety inspections and education. He introduced a uniform that, for the first time, included personal protection from the hazards of firefighting. With 80 firefighters and 13 fire stations, the unit was still a private enterprise, funded by the insurance companies, in 1904 it was renamed as the London Fire Brigade. The LFB moved into a new headquarters built by Higgs and Hill on the Albert Embankment in Lambeth in 1937, during the Second World War the countrys brigades were amalgamated into a single National Fire Service. The separate London Fire Brigade for the County of London was re-established in 1948, in 1986 the Greater London Council was disbanded and a new statutory authority, the London Fire and Civil Defence Authority, was formed to take responsibility for the LFB. The LFCDA was replaced in 2000 by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, at the same time, the Greater London Authority was established to administer the LFEPA and coordinate emergency planning for London. Consisting of the Mayor of London and other elected members, the GLA also takes responsibility for the Metropolitan Police Authority, Transport for London, in 2007 the LFB vacated its Lambeth headquarters and moved to a site in Union Street, Southwark. In the same year, the Department for Communities and Local Government announced that LFB Commissioner Ken Knight had been appointed as the first Chief Fire, Knight was succeeded as Commissioner at that time by Ron Dobson, who served for almost ten years. Dany Cotton took over in 2017, becoming the brigades first female commissioner, dany Cotton is the current commissioner, having taken up the role on 1 January 2017. She holds the Queens Fire Service Medal, frank Jackson, CBE1938 to 1941, Cdr. Sir Aylmer Firebrace, CBE1933 to 1938, Maj. Cyril Morris 1918 to 1933, Arthur Reginald Dyer 1909 to 1918, sir Sampson Sladen 1903 to 1909, RAdm. James de Courcy Hamilton 1896 to 1903, Capt, lionel de Latour Wells 1891 to 1896, James Sexton Simmonds 1861 to 1891, Capt. Both divisions were divided into three districts, each under a Superintendent with his headquarters at a superintendent station, the superintendent stations themselves were commanded by District Officers, with the other stations under Station Officers
6. City of London Corporation – In 2006 the name was changed from Corporation of London to avoid confusion with the wider London local government, the Greater London Authority. The Corporation is probably the worlds oldest continuously-elected local government authority, the corporations structure includes the Lord Mayor, the Court of Aldermen, the Court of Common Council, and the Freemen and Livery of the City. In Anglo-Saxon times, consultation between the Citys rulers and its citizens took place at the Folkmoot, administration and judicial processes were conducted at the Court of Husting and the non-legal part of the courts work evolved into the Court of Aldermen. Numerous subsequent Royal Charters over the centuries confirmed and extended the citizens rights, around 1189, the City gained the right to have its own mayor, later being advanced to the degree and style of Lord Mayor of London. The individual commissioners were nominated by the Corporation, but it was a separate body. Local government legislation often makes special provision for the City to be treated as a London borough, the Chief Executive of the administrative side of the Corporation holds the ancient office of Town Clerk of London. The Chamberlain, the City Treasurer and Finance Officer, the City Remembrancer, who is responsible for protocol, ceremonial, security issues as well as legislative matters that may affect the Corporation and is legally qualified. The Comptroller and City Solicitor, legal officer. e, former Lord Mayors, and the junior Aldermen. The Common Serjeant, the senior judge at the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey. C) The Ward Beadles, responsible to a specific Ward from which they are elected, largely ceremonial support to their respective Aldermen, and also perform a formal role at Ward Motes. In 1801, the City had a population of about 130,000 and it has risen slightly to around 9,000 since, largely due to the development of the Barbican Estate. As it has not been affected by other municipal legislation over the period of time since then, therefore, the non-residential vote, abolished in the rest of the country in 1969, became an increasingly large part of the electorate. The non-residential vote system used disfavoured incorporated companies, the City of London Act 2002 greatly increased the business franchise, allowing many more businesses to be represented. In 2009, the vote was about 24,000. Each body or organisation, whether unincorporated or incorporated, whose premises are within the City of London may appoint a number of based on the number of workers it employs. Limited liability partnerships fall into this category, though workers count as part of a workforce regardless of nationality, only certain individuals may be appointed as voters. The City of London is divided into twenty-five Wards, each of which is a division, electing one Alderman. The numbers below reflect the changes caused by the City of London Act, there are over one hundred livery companies in London
7. Lord Mayor of London – The Lord Mayor of London is the City of Londons mayor and leader of the City of London Corporation. This office differs from the Mayor of London, which is an elected position. However, the legal and commonly used title remains Lord Mayor of London, the Lord Mayor is elected at Common Hall each year on Michaelmas, and takes office on the Friday before the second Saturday in November, at The Silent Ceremony. One of the worlds oldest continuously elected civic offices, the Lord Mayors main role nowadays is to represent, support and promote the businesses and residents in the City of London. As leader of the Corporation of the City of London, the Lord Mayor serves as the key spokesman for the local authority, all Lord Mayors of London are apolitical. The Lord Mayor of London typically delivers dozens of speeches and addresses per year, many incumbents of the office make overseas visits while Lord Mayor of London. Currently serving is the 689th Lord Mayor Dr Andrew Parmley Of the 69 cities in the United Kingdom, the City of London is among the 30 that have Lord Mayors. The Lord Mayor is entitled to the style The Right Honourable, the same privilege extends only to the Lord Mayors of York, Cardiff and Belfast, the latter prefix applies only to Privy Counsellors. A woman who holds the office is known as a Lord Mayor. The wife of a male Lord Mayor is styled as Lady Mayoress, a female Lord Mayor or an unmarried male Lord Mayor may appoint a female consort, usually a fellow member of the corporation, to the role of Lady Mayoress. In speech, a Lord Mayor is referred to as My Lord Mayor, and it was once customary for Lord Mayors to be appointed knights upon taking office and baronets upon retirement, unless they already held such a title. This custom was followed with a few inconsistencies from the 16th until the 19th centuries, however, from 1964 onwards, the regular creation of hereditary titles such as baronetcies was phased out, so subsequent Lord Mayors were offered knighthoods. Furthermore, foreign Heads of State visiting the City of London on a UK State Visit, for example, in 2001, Sir David Howard was created a Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence of Jordan by King Abdullah II. Recently Lord Mayors have been appointed at the beginning of their term of office Knights or Dames of St John, as a mark of respect, by HM The Queen, Sovereign Head of the Order of St John. The office of Lord Mayor was instituted in 1189, the first holder of the office being Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone. The Mayor of the City of London has been elected by the City, rather than appointed by the Sovereign, the title Lord Mayor came to be used after 1354, when it was granted to Thomas Legge by King Edward III. Lord Mayors are elected for terms, by custom, they do not now serve more than one consecutive term. Almost 700 people have served as Lord Mayor, Dame Mary Donaldson, elected in 1983, and Dame Fiona Woolf, elected in 2013, are the only women to have held the office
8. Freedom of the City – The Freedom of the City is an honor bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. The Freedom of the City can also be granted by municipal authorities to military units which have earned the citys trust, in this context and this allows them the freedom to parade through the city, and is an affirmation of the bond between the regiment and the citizenry. The honor was sometimes accompanied by a box, a small gold box inscribed to record the occasion. In some countries, such as the United States, esteemed residents and visitors may instead be presented with the Key to the City, other cities award Honorary Citizenship, with just a certificate. Freedom of the City is an ancient honor granted to martial organisations, allowing them the privilege to march into the city with drums beating, colours flying and this honor dates back to ancient Rome which regarded the pomerium, the boundary of the city, as sacred. Promagistrates and generals were forbidden from entering it, and resigned their imperium immediately upon crossing it, an exception was made for victory celebrations, during which the victorious general would be permitted to enter for one day only. Under the Republic, soldiers also lost their status when entering, becoming citizens, weapons were also banned inside the pomerium for religious and traditional reasons. Similar laws were passed by other European cities throughout the Medieval era, to public security and civic rights. As a result, soldiers would be forced to camp outside the walls of the city during the winter months. The Freedom of the City was an honor granted only to troops which had earned the trust of the local populace, either through some valiant action or simply by being a familiar presence. Today, martial freedom of the city is an entirely ceremonial honor, usually bestowed upon a unit with historic ties to the area, as a token of appreciation for their long, the awarding of the Freedom is often accompanied by a celebratory parade through the city. A slightly more freedom of the city is connected to the medieval concept of free status. As such, freemen actually pre-date boroughs, early freedom of the boroughs ceremonies had great importance in affirming that the recipient enjoyed privileges such as the right to trade and own property, and protection within the town. Before parliamentary reform in 1832, freedom of the city or town conferred the right to vote in the boroughs for the MPs. Until the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 the freemen were the electorate for the boroughs. These two acts together curtailed the power of the freemen and extended the franchise to all householders, the private property belonging to the freemen collectively was retained. The freemen of York, Oxford and Newcastle upon Tyne still own considerable areas within their towns, the Local Government Act 1972 specifically preserved freemens rights. The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 removed any restrictions entitling only men to be freemen, today, the grant of honorary freedom in the United Kingdom is governed by the Local Government Act 1972
9. Livery company – The livery companies of the City of London, currently 110 in number, comprise Londons ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are styled the Worshipful Company of. Their respective craft, trade or profession, Londons livery companies play a significant part in City life, not least by providing charitable-giving and networking opportunities. Liverymen retain voting rights for the civic offices, such as the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs and City of London Corporation. The term livery originated in the form of dress worn to retainers of a nobleman. Most livery companies retain their religious associations, although nowadays members are free to follow any faith or none. Most livery companies still maintain contacts with their trade, craft or professional roles. Some still exercise powers of regulation, inspection and enforcement, while others are awarding bodies for professional qualifications, several companies restrict membership only to those holding relevant professional qualifications, eg. the City of London Solicitors Company and the Worshipful Company of Engineers. Other companies, whose trade died out long ago, such as the Longbow Makers Company, have evolved into being primarily charitable foundations, after the Carmen received City livery status in 1746 no new companies were established in London for 180 years until the Master Mariners in 1926. Post-1926 creations are known as livery companies. The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars, the newest, was granted status on 11 February 2014. The Honourable Company of Air Pilots is exceptional among Londons livery companies in having active overseas committees in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand and North America. Livery companies are governed by a Master, a number of Wardens, the Clerk to the Company is invariably its most senior permanent member of staff, who as chief executive officer runs its day-to-day activities. Membership generally falls into two categories, freemen and liverymen, most livery companies reserve the right to admit distinguished people, particularly in their sphere of influence, as honorary freemen. Freemen may advance to become liverymen, after obtaining the freedom of the City of London, only liverymen are eligible to vote in the annual election of the Lord Mayor of London, the Sheriffs and various other City civic offices, including the Ale Conners and Bridge Masters. The livery companies elect a majority of the members of the Livery Committee, the Committee oversees the elections of Sheriffs and the Lord Mayor, educates liverymen regarding the City and its activities, represents the livery companies in communications with the City. A liveryman is a member of their respective Company. When a Freeman becomes a liveryman, the candidate is said to be enclothed, indeed, thereafter only the master, wardens and assistants in companies are seen wearing these at company events. The masters wear them at the Citys formal events, e. g. the two Common Halls and the United Guilds Service, and Lord Mayors Show, wherever they may participate
10. Wards of the City of London – The City of London is divided into 25 wards. Unlike other modern-day English local authorities, the City of London Corporation has two bodies, the now largely ceremonial Court of Aldermen and the Court of Common Council. The wards are a survival of the governmental system that allowed very small areas to exist as self-governing units within the wider city. They are both electoral/political sub-divisions and permanent ceremonial, geographic and administrative entities within the City and they had their boundaries changed in 2003, and to a lesser extent in 2013, though the number of wards and their names did not change. Each ward, or aldermanry, has its own alderman, who is the most senior official or representative in the ward, the aldermen traditionally held office for life but in the modern era put themselves up for re-election at least every six years. They also now customarily retire at 70, the retirement age as a justice of the peace. Each ward returns one alderman to the Court of Aldermen, one of the aldermen is elected as Lord Mayor of London for a period of one year. The Lord Mayor performs many functions and holds many ancient positions, the City of London is the only remaining local authority in Great Britain to have aldermen, since their general abolition in England and Wales in 1974 and the London boroughs in 1978. Wards continue to have beadles, with most having just one and these should not be confused with the Beadles of the Livery Companies of the City, who are employees of them. The wards alderman presides over the wardmote and appoints one of the councillors of the ward as a deputy for the year ahead. Wardmotes at which an alderman is to be elected are presided over by the Lord Mayor, there are twenty two of these. Confusingly, there is also a United Wards Club which was formed many of the others as a joint association and is now additional to them. In recent times the ward clerk is a permanent position held by an official at the Corporation, the ward clerk is a separate office to that of the Town Clerk of London, who is the chief executive of the Corporation. Boundary changes in 2003 removed some of these places from their wards, but that boundary review. The Common Council as we know it today, as a body of the wards, was realised in 1384 when the Citys guilds no longer elected members. The number of members of the Common Council grew to 240 by the mid-nineteenth century, each ward was divided into precincts, each of which elected one common councilman. As the number of precincts grew over time, the number of councilmen elected therefore also increased, the precincts have now been abolished. The wards are ancient and their number has changed three times since their creation in time immemorial
11. United Kingdom – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
12. European Union – The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum