Results of experiments investigating the performance of the JET Mark IIA divertor are reported and compared to the performance of its Mark I predecessor. The principal effect of reducing the divertor width (increasing closure) was to increase pumping for both deuterium and impurities while reducing upstream neutral pressure. Neither the orientation of the divertor target relative to the divertor plasma nor the width of the divertor had a major influence on core plasma performance in ELMy H-modes. Changing the core triangularity and thus the edge magnetic shear modifies the ELM frequency in ELMy H-mode plasmas there by changing the peak divertor power loading. The integrated performance of the core and divertor plasmas is reviewed with a view to extrapolation to the requirements of ITER. The confinement of JET ELMy H-modes with hot, medium density edges is good and follows gyro-Bohm scaling. The impurity content of these discharges is low and within the ITER requirements. When one attempts to raise the density with deuterium gas fuelling the ELM frequency increases and the confinement, especially in the edge, decreases. Good confinement can be achieved in JET either by producing a large edge pedestal, typically in discharges with neutral beam heating or by centrally peaked heating with ICRH schemes. Large amplitude, Type I ELMs, which are present in all discharges with a large edge pedestal, would result in unacceptable divertor plate erosion when scaled to ITER. Since the power deposition profile due to  heating in ITER is calculated to be intermediate between JET NB and RF heating profiles, it is likely that operation in ITER with small ELMs in order to reduce first wall loading will result in degraded confinement compared to presentday scaling laws.