The territorial organisation of England is one of the most complicated in Europe, the product of centuries of layering and numerous reforms. Alongside the ancient historic counties there are statistical regions, administrative counties, districts, unitary authorities and, in recent years, combined authorities led by elected mayors.
The nine regions
For statistical and planning purposes England is divided into nine regions, which have no elected governments or assemblies, except London:
Counties and local councils
The historic counties, such as Kent, Yorkshire, Devon or Lancashire, date from the Middle Ages and remain important for identity, sport and tradition, but do not always match today's administrative divisions. Local government now rests on several types of body:
- Counties and districts: in many rural areas there is a two-tier system, with a county council (schools, roads, social care) and district councils (waste, planning, council housing). The government has launched a reform to replace them by the end of the decade with a single tier of unitary authorities.
- Unitary authorities: a single body for all services, as in the cities of Bristol, Leicester, Nottingham or Plymouth.
- Metropolitan boroughs: the 36 districts of the great conurbations of the North and the Midlands, such as Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield.
- London: 32 boroughs plus the City of London, with a strategic authority, the Greater London Authority, led by an elected mayor, Sadiq Khan since 2016.
There are also the 48 ceremonial counties, used for Crown functions, and thousands of parish councils in villages.
English devolution
Because England has no parliament of its own, since 2014 governments have transferred powers over transport, economic development, skills and housing to combined authorities, which bring several councils together and are led by an elected mayor. The most important are Greater Manchester, led since 2026 by Bev Craig after Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, the Liverpool City Region, South Yorkshire, the North East, the West of England, the Tees Valley and York and North Yorkshire. A law on English devolution aims to extend this model across the whole country.
See also England and Parliament and government.