Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1922.
Mr John Hills
, City of Durham
I beg to move, at the end of paragraph (b), to insert a new paragraph—
(c) Any one consumer of not less than fifty thousand units annually.
The effect of my Amendment is this. The Schedule provides an alternative
scheme to the Act of 1899 for the revision of standard charges for three years, and under this scheme certain parties have got the right to apply to the Minister of Transport, and on that application he may hold an inquiry. The people who have to compel the inquiry to be held are (1) the undertakers; (2) or such number of consumers, not less than 20, as the Minister may consider sufficient; (3) the local authority; and (4) the London County Council. I want to add to that, "any one consumer of not less than 50,000 units annually." It is quite clear that if 20 consumers, who may take only a small amount of power, say, 100 units each, have got. the right to move the Minister, one large consumer ought to have similar power. It cannot give rise to any abuse, for he has to apply to the Minister, and the Minister is not compelled to take any action at all. All he is compelled to do is to hold such inquiry as be may think fit, and after that he may make an Order for the varying of the charges. It is a very reasonable Amendment, for the whole provision is permissive
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
