Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 18 Mawrth 1949.
Sir Godfrey Nicholson
, Farnham
12:00,
18 Mawrth 1949
I feel certain that there is no doubt whatever in the minds of the whole of the country that the speeches of the hon. Member for Mile End (Mr. Piratin) and the hon. Member for Luton (Mr. Warbey) represent a very small fraction of public opinion—very small indeed. But I am a little afraid lest they should have too much weight attached to them abroad. After all, I suppose 10 or 12 people have spoken this afternoon, but two of those 12 represent a view which is not represented by a thousandth part of the country. I feel that Parliament and the Government, in justice to ourselves, should take early steps to see that they come out into the open and are disclaimed by the members of the Party to which they claim to belong. Every Opposition Party is as delighted as the vast Majority of supporters of the Government.
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.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
