Part of Orders of the Day — Industrial Organisation Bill – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 25 Gorffennaf 1947.
Mr Oliver Lyttelton
, Aldershot
12:00,
25 Gorffennaf 1947
I would like to thank the President of the Board of Trade for fulfilling so entirely the promise he gave us. During the Committee stage, we pressed the point of trying to secure that either side—either employers or employed—on the development councils, should, under the Bill, have a Majority over the independent members. The President of the Board of Trade has not been prepared to go so far as that, but this Amendment, as it stands, has some significance for the hon. Member for Harborough (Mr. Attewell), who was apparently unable to conceive of circumstances in which employers and employed were in agreement. That happens, and it happens much more often than the hon. Member appears to credit as likely. This Amendment means that if the employers and the employed are both agreed on a subject, they cannot be voted down by the independent members who are appointed at the disposition of the President of the Board of Trade. Therefore, once again, we have a case in which a Governmental wish may not he imposed upon an unwilling industry. An unwilling industry, in this connection, means an industry both sides of which agree that something is desirable or undesirable. I would ask the House to remember that these cases of both sides of industry knowing their own business, and agreeing how it shall be conducted, are much more frequent than those who study the OFFICIAL REPORT might be led to suppose.
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.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
