[9] Since 1998, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales have also gained significant autonomy through the process of devolution.

The Irish Free State adopted a new, essentially republican constitution in 1937 – albeit retaining the King for diplomatic functions – by which it would be known as simply Ireland.

[25] The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 refers to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as "parts" of the United Kingdom in the following clause: "Each constituency shall be wholly in one of the four parts of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland)."

The Royal Fine Art Commission's 1847 report on decorating the Palace of Westminster referred to "the nationality of the component parts of the United Kingdom" being represented by their four respective patron saints.

[26] For the purposes of NUTS 1 collection of statistical data in a format that is compatible with similar data collected in the European Union (on behalf of Eurostat), the United Kingdom was divided into twelve regions of approximately equal size.

Following Brexit, the Office for National Statistics uses International Territorial Level, which is currently a mirror of the NUTS 1 system until the 2024 review.

[30] The alternative term Home Nations is sometimes used in sporting contexts and may include all of the island of Ireland.

"[36] The Commission for Racial Equality found that with respect to notions of nationality in Britain, "the most basic, objective and uncontroversial conception of the British people is one that includes the English, the Scots and the Welsh".

[37] Commentators have described this latter viewpoint as "nationalism", a rejection of British identity because some Scots and Welsh interpret it as "cultural imperialism imposed" upon the United Kingdom by "English ruling elites",[39] or else a response to a historical misappropriation of equating the word "English" with "British",[40] which has "brought about a desire among Scots, Welsh and Irish to learn more about their heritage and distinguish themselves from the broader British identity".

[42] The 2011 census which asked about national identity found that responders in Great Britain predominantly chose English, Welsh and Scottish rather than British.

The 2022 National Scotland census which asked about national identity in Scotland found that from the populations responders at 89% had predominantly chose the Scottish only identity at 65.5% of the population, the percentage of those identifying as British only increased to 13.9%, those identifying as Scottish and British had reduced to 8.2%.

The 2014 Life & Times Survey addressed this to an extent by choosing two of the options from the identity question: British and Irish.

Again in 2014, the Life & Times Survey asked what respondents felt should be the "long term future for Northern Ireland".

50% of specifically Roman Catholics considered that the long-term future should be as part of the UK, with 32% opting for separation.

The United Kingdom participates in the Eurovision Song Contest as a single entity, though there have been calls for separate Scottish and Welsh entrants.