– in the House of Commons at on 2 July 1925.
Mr William Lunn
, Rothwell
asked the Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to deal with the position in the mining industry, in view of the fact that the coalowners have given notice to terminate the agreement between themselves and the Miners' Federation of Great Britain at the end of July?
Mr Austen Chamberlain
, Birmingham West
For the reason given in reply to a question by the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition—
Mr David Kirkwood
, Dumbarton District of Burghs
Speak up; we cannot hear you.
Mr Austen Chamberlain
, Birmingham West
That is because other people are talking at the same time. For the reason given in reply to a question by the right hon. Gentleman the Leader of the Opposition on the 23rd June, Government Intervention would, in the opinion of my right hon. Friend, be premature at this moment. Notice to terminate the present agreement will naturally be followed by negotiations between the two sides to see if a new agreement cannot be made, and these negotiations, I understand, are now being entered upon.
Mr William Lunn
, Rothwell
During this week we had a speech from the Prime Minister in which he said that the Cabinet were considering the question of subsidising certain industries, and I would like to know whether the Cabinet has set up a Committee to consider the subsidising of the coal industry which is in such an awful state to-day?
Mr Wilfred Paling
, Doncaster
Have the Cabinet done anything to meet this problem, or are they waiting until a crisis occurs?
Mr John Whitley
, Halifax
The right hon. Gentleman has already answered that point.
Mr Robert Richardson
, Houghton-le-Spring
Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that the attitude taken up by the Government of to-day is identical with that taken up in 1921, when the crash came?
The "Leader of the Opposition" is head of "Her Majesty's Official Opposition". This position is taken by the Leader of the party with the 2nd largest number of MPs in the Commons.
An intervention is when the MP making a speech is interrupted by another MP and asked to 'give way' to allow the other MP to intervene on the speech to ask a question or comment on what has just been said.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
