Following the 1707 Act of Union, Scotland and England & Wales united to become the Kingdom of Great Britain. The 1800 Act of Union united the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The nation subsequently gained its present title as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927 following the departure of much of Ireland upon independence as the Irish Free State in 1922.
For much of the last century most British elections have been clear choices between the Conservative (officially the Conservative and Unionist) and the Labour parties. During those years nationalist agendas in Scotland and Wales have ebbed and flowed, while Unionists and Nationalists have competed for influence over the peoples of Northern Ireland.
Thus in 2014 (September 18th – Scottish referendum on the question: Should Scotland be an independent country?) 44.7% of Scots voted to dissolve the Union, while 55.3% of Scots voted to preserve the Union.
Then in 2015 (May 7th – British General Election) more Scots voted to promote a nationalist agenda (Scottish Nationalist Party vote share 50%) so the Scottish Unionists (in this case a mixture of Conservative, Liberal and Labour candidates) were voted out of their seats in Parliament (The Scottish Nationalists had 6 seats out of 59 in the 2010 Parliament – as a result of the 2015 poll they took 56 seats, leaving the Conservatives with 1, the Labour party with 1 and the Liberals with 1, compared to 1, 41 and 11 respectively in the 2010 Parliament). Meanwhile south of the border, the Conservative Unionists increased their vote share slightly but gained seats at the expense of the Labour and Liberal parties, who have been generally favorable to the European Union, as the Nationalist and anti-European Union agenda of the United Kingdom Independence Party who won a 14% share of the vote and one seat in the 2015 Parliament.
In 2016 (United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum) many English and Welsh who are passionate about the Union of the United Kingdom voted to dissolve the union with the European Union (53.3% to 46.7%), while many in Scotland voted to preserve union with the European Union (62% to 38%). Incidentally Northern Ireland also voted in favor of staying in the European Union (55.8% to 44.2%). As a result, the Conservative leader, David Cameron who favored remaining in Europe resigned and was replaced by Theresa May who also favored remain but agreed to lead the country out of Europe.
And now in 2017 many former Conservative voters, scared about leaving the Union on unfavorable terms have voted for a Labour party that they believe is more concerned about by the realities of dissolving the Union. Yet north of the border many have voted for the Scottish Conservative party and therefore for an agenda that plans to leave the European Union (the Conservative party gained 12 seats and painted large rural areas of the map blue, that were formerly yellow) at the expense of a Nationalist party that wants to remain in Europe while getting out of Britain. A consequence of the realignment of the vote means that the Conservative Party have lost their majority in Parliament and have turned for support to the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, who represent both a strongly Unionist (with the United Kingdom) and Nationalist anti-European agenda. At the same time the Sinn Fein Irish Nationalists who also represent both a strongly Unionist (with the Republic of Ireland) and Nationalist, Out-of-the United Kingdom agenda, and who elected seven Members of Parliament last week, always refuse to take their seats in Westminster, ensuring that Theresa May may not have to look over her shoulder quite so often.
1776 was so much easier!
And with apologies to: Cricket Explained to a Foreigner