Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Employment – in the House of Commons am 12:00 am ar 7 Chwefror 1995.
Denis MacShane
, Rotherham
12:00,
7 Chwefror 1995
The Secretary of State will be aware that inward investment and industrial relations will be discussed at the United Nations social summit next month in Copenhagen. Will he confirm that neither he nor the Prime Minister will be attending that summit, and that a flunky or a flunkette will go instead? While the Majority of European, OECD and third-world countries will be sending heads of state and Ministers of Labour, is not Britain once again snubbing the summit and sending a message of patronising indifference to the third world?
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 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.
