Part of Orders of the Day — Housing (Rural Workers) Bill. – in the House of Commons am ar 6 Rhagfyr 1926.
Mr Edward Ruggles-Brise
, Maldon
On that point of Order. May I quote from the "Manual of Procedure," which says:
A Clause or Amendment creating a charge on the public revenue, or imposing any tax, rate, or other burden on the people, may not he moved.
The Amendment would not do any of those things. A burden has already been placed on the taxpayer under the Bill, and it is now merely a question whether, if, in certain circumstances, the local authority is able to recover a sum of money from the owner, part of that money shall be allocated back to the Exchequer or be divided as between the Exchequer and the county council. There is no question of creating any further burden on the Exchequer; it is merely a question of intercepting a certain sum of money which might, in certain circumstances, come back to the Exchequer. The Amendment would not impose any further charge on the Exchequer.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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.
