ABSTRACT
Since the 1960s there have been huge challenges to the concept of a United Kingdom (UK). These came most strongly from Northern Ireland, where most of the Roman Catholic community favoured union with Ireland, and some were prepared to challenge the authority of the British state by force. But in Scotland and Wales, there was a rise in nationalist sentiment without the same religious and community fracture, and this resulted in the devolution of some powers to a Scottish Parliament and to a Welsh Assembly. By 2007, all political parties were in favour of some further devolution of responsibilities; the debate was on how much. At the same time, membership of what was at first referred to as the Common Market, then the European Economic Community (EEC), then the European Community and finally the European Union (EU) involved a sharing of British national sovereignty. Not surprisingly, these developments caused intense and long-running debates within Britain.
