Oral Answers to Questions — General Election – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 29 Mai 1945.
Mr Thomas Johnston
, Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire Western
12:00,
29 Mai 1945
asked the Prime Minister if he is prepared to make any statement regarding the intentions of the Government on the further progress of the Education (Scotland) Bill, now being considered by the Scottish Grand Committee; and whether he proposes any constitutional rearrangements to enable the Noble Lord the Secretary of State for Scotland to take part in the proceedings; or how, otherwise, he intends to ensure that the Government will be represented, with Cabinet authority, in the Committee stage of this Measure.
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
His Majesty's Government adopt the policy of the Education (Scotland) Bill. It is impossible to carry this in the interval before the dissolution, but should His Majesty's present advisers be concerned with the direction of public affairs after the polls, they will certainly carry it foward to the best of their ability. This gives me the opportunity of congratulating my right hon. Friend on the important conceptions and agreements which are embodied in the new Bill, and to assure him of our desire that his own great personal contribution may be embodied in a future Statute.
The question of legislation to enable Ministers to speak or function in either House of Parliament or in Committees of either House is one which raises issues long dormant. It certainly needs to be awakened in the period of stress which lies before us.
Mr Thomas Johnston
, Stirlingshire and Clackmannanshire Western
If it is proved, in the proceedings of the Scottish Grand Committee at its meeting to-morrow, that there is substantial agreement regarding the education Clauses of this Bill, and that it can be sent back on the Report stage to this House with general concurrence, will the Government give facilities for its further progress?
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
If such a happy state of things should arise, and if there is general agreement, that is a matter which can always be settled through the usual channels on both sides. It is possible for this House to legislate with extreme rapidity in matters where there is no difference of opinion.
Mr James Maxton
, Glasgow Bridgeton
May I ask whether it would not be much more desirable, rather than raising vexed constitutional issues on the powers of Lords and Commons, if the Prime Minister would recognise that the people of Scotland would not, for more than a temporary period, be ready to accept a Secretary of State who sits in The other House of Parliament?
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
That is raising very large constitutional issues in relation to matters which have not so far, for many years, been of a controversial nature.
Mr Ernest Bevin
, Wandsworth Central
Why does the Prime Minister raise this dormant issue in this appointment affecting Scotland?
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
I can quite see that my hon. Friend's Scottish soul has been outraged, but the reason why I am said to have raised the point was that I consider the appointment was the one best calculated to give satisfaction to Scotland—
Mr William Gallacher
, Fife Western
We want someone we can throw bricks at right here.
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
—but it is certainly not expressed by some of those who are trying—[Interruption.]
Mr Ernest Bevin
, Wandsworth Central
Was the decision arrived at because of the lack of ability amongst the Tory Party in this House? [Interruption.]
Mr Winston Churchill
, Epping
The right hon. Member is in as good a position as I am to judge that, having so long enjoyed their support.
Mr Douglas Clifton Brown
, Hexham
I think I ought to remind the House that we are getting a very long way from the original purpose of this Question, which was the Scottish Education Bill.
Mr William Gallacher
, Fife Western
The important question in connection with the Scottish Education Bill is whether we are going to have someone there in the Scottish Grand Committee who is actually responsible for carrying through the Measure.
Mr. McNeil:
Might I plead with the right hon. Gentleman, who attaches to this Bill so much importance, to use such influence as he may have with his own Members to see that we can get Cabinet authority that would enable us to get this Bill?
Sir James Henderson-Stewart
, Fife Eastern
Will the Prime Minister, in considering this problem of the Scottish Education Bill, take into account the fact that all parties in Scotland are almost unanimous, in desiring that the education parts of this Bill should go through, and it would reflect, I feel, the wishes of all Scottish hon. Members in the House if the effort could be made?
Mr Douglas Clifton Brown
, Hexham
The hon. Member is making a speech.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
House of Lords
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
