Part of Orders of the Day — Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Bill – in the House of Commons am 4:39 pm ar 20 Mehefin 1991.
Dr Brian Mawhinney
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office
4:39,
20 Mehefin 1991
I take your caution, Mr. Deputy Speaker. All that I would say to the hon. Gentleman is that the law has been agreed through Parliament and, of course, it must be applied in exactly the way that he says.
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.
The Deputy speaker is in charge of proceedings of the House of Commons in the absence of the Speaker.
The deputy speaker's formal title is Chairman of Ways and Means, one of whose functions is to preside over the House of Commons when it is in a Committee of the Whole House.
The deputy speaker also presides over the Budget.
