Is there just one government for the whole of the UK?

Answer 1

The United Kingdom has a single national government based at Whitehall in London, with theoretical responsibility for the entirety of the UK. In recent years however, the powers and authority of the UK Government have been eroded by the creation of strong sub-national governments in three of the UK's four constituent countries.

Presently, in addition to the UK Government, there are regional governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each region has its own legislature (with Scotland's being the most powerful and Northern Ireland's being the least) and its own executive headed by a First Minister and a full Cabinet, though usually only the Welsh and Scottish executives are referred to as "governments". England has no devolved executive or legislature of its own, and so the UK Government takes responsibility for legislation and the management of public affairs in England at country-level. Attempts to introduce legislatures in England's regions were abandoned in the late 1990s due to a lack of popular support.

All though the devolved governments of the other three countries have grown quite powerful, particularly in the 2010 - 2011 period when greater powers were devolved to Northern Ireland and Wales, they do not have full autonomy. Powers in certain policy areas remain vested in the UK Government exclusively, whilst in other areas - particularly fiscal policy - the powers of regional governments are limited, either on a de jure or de facto basis.

The UK is not, however, a federal state. Whilst the UK Government is usually respectful of the the authority of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments, they do not infact have any power or authority in their own right. Within the constitutional framework of the UK, power is devolved downwards by the UK Parliament - and it has an inviolable right to alter or end the terms of that devolution whenever it sees fit. As such, all though the UK does have regional governments, their powers come from central government and they are completely subject to the authority of Parliament (and by extension the UK Government of the day).

The same is true of local governments. The UK has 232 "local councils" with their own administrative and very, very limited legislative powers, again originating from Parliament and varying from area to area.

Answer 2

No, the UK has a devolved system of government, which means that there are separate governments for different parts of the UK. The UK government operates for matters that affect the whole of the UK, while Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own devolved governments with varying degrees of power to make decisions on issues that affect their respective regions.