scotland entered into a political union with england in 1707, and since then has sent representatives to the palace of westminster, which succeeded the parliament of england to become the british parliament. currently, 59 members of parliament (mps) represent scottish constituencies at westminster, and issues such as the constitution, foreign affairs, defence, social security, pensions, issues of medical ethics, and fiscal, economic and monetary policy are decided on a nationwide uk level. in 1999, a 129-member scottish parliament was established in edinburgh; it has full power to make law in scotland, except in reserved matters. in the uk government, scottish affairs are represented by the secretary of state for scotland, currently alister jack mp. the scottish government is headed by a first minister, who is the leader of the political party with the most support in the scottish parliament, currently nicola sturgeon msp. the head of state in scotland is the british monarch, currently queen elizabeth ii (since 1952). there are six members of the european parliament elected by scotland, as the uk is a member state of the european union.