Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons am 10:30 am ar 25 Mawrth 2010.
Hilary Benn
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
10:30,
25 Mawrth 2010
I take my hon. Friend's point that demonisation will not help anybody to deal with the problem. This debate is about what further steps we can take, building on existing legislation, and amending it if that is sensible, to put in place effective measures to deal with the problem of the small number of owners-the vast Majority of dog owners are responsible and as concerned about this as anybody else-who through breeding, training or incitement allow their dogs to do the kind of things that we have seen.
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.
