The UK is a multi-nation unitary-sovereign state. Scotland is one of the nations within it.

Geography and Politics

So often people in the UK get confused about the naming of places (geography) and the naming of political entities (politics). For example “Great Britain” is a group of islands within the Anglo-Celtic Isles that also include the island of Ireland. Whereas “The UK” is a multi-nation unitary-sovereign state, and Scotland is one of those nations.

Here “unitary” doesn’t mean there is only one nation or country – it means a sovereign state governed as a single entity, in which the central government is the supreme authority.

The current “UK” only came into existence in 1927 after the Irish war of independence – when it became known, as it is today, as the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.