Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 13 Rhagfyr 1973.
Mr Stan Orme
, Salford West
12:00,
13 Rhagfyr 1973
The hon. Gentleman knows as well as I do that he has seen an outline of the proposals. An outline of some of the proposals was published in the Irish papers. I have seen an outline. What I want to see, and what he wants to see, is the Executive chairman putting the proposals to the Assembly and the proposals then being put to the Irish people. The Executive will come into being on 1st January. I presume that there will be a Queen's Speech type of presentation of the Executive's policy. It can then be examined in great detail. We can then have the argument.
The hon. Member for Mid-Ulster referred to the rent strike. She asked what the Minister will do. I believe that the people who are in key positions will carry out their important jobs. The hon. Lady criticises Mr. Devlin, by inference, for being in charge—
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.
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.
