section_path: Politics/Administrative divisions
section_name: Administrative divisions
paragraph_text: Administrative divisions
  
  The geographical division of the United Kingdom into 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. Modern local government by elected councils, partly based on the ancient counties, was established by separate Acts of Parliament: in England and Wales in 1888, Scotland in 1889 and Ireland in 1898, meaning there is no consistent system of administrative or geographic demarcation across the UK, and England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own distinct jurisdictions. Until the 19th century there was little change to those arrangements, but there has since been a constant evolution of role and function.
  
  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, used primarily for statistical purposes. One of the regions, Greater London, has had a directly elected assembly and mayor since 2000 following popular support for the proposal in a 1998 referendum.
  
  Local government in Scotland is divided into 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 Highland Council, which includes a third of Scotland's area but only just over 200,000 people. Local councils are made up of elected councillors, of whom there are 1,223.
  
  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. Elections are held every four years under the first-past-the-post system.
  
  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. In 2008 the executive agreed on proposals to create 11 new councils to replace the existing system.