Part of the debate – in the House of Commons am 9:40 pm ar 29 Mawrth 2011.
Chris Ruane
Llafur, Dyffryn Clwyd
9:40,
29 Mawrth 2011
I thank the Chief Secretary for giving way. Has he read the article in The Guardian today, which reports that the UK has slipped from third position to 13th in the whole world on green renewable energy technology under the Tory-Liberal Democrat Government?
The amendment of the law motion relates to the chancellor's Budget statement.
It is a general resolution laid before the House of Commons by the chancellor of the exchequer.
It enables the financial changes proposed in the Budget statement to be passed into law.
The amendment of the law is moved formally at the start of the Budget debate and, together with the Ways and Means resolutions, is voted on at the end of this debate.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
