I honestly find the way the UK treats its regions really weird.

Like, technically the UK is a unitary state. The devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland only have power because Westminster said they can have power. Very different from the federal states of Germany, the US, or Australia, which have a constitutional right to exist and govern themselves in at least some regard. In effect, UK regions have much less autonomy or independence than other countries' states. But the UK pretends that they're "countries", which would imply that they have more independence than a state. It's bizarre.

And I say this as someone who absolutely supports the right of Scotland etc. to become independent if that's what they want. After the shambles that was Brexit, Scotland deserves to have another independence referendum.