Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce. – in the House of Commons at on 8 March 1939.
Sir Robert Perkins
, Stroud
asked the Minister of Labour whether he can give the House any information as to the total number of Irish labourers that have arrived in this country during 1938 and 1939; and whether he will immediately introduce legislation to control the flow of Irish and other labourers into this country?
Mr Alan Lennox-Boyd
, Mid Bedfordshire
No separate figures for labourers are available but the total number of male migrants entering insured employment in Great Britain was 16,115 in 1938 and 935 in January, 1939. As regards the last part of the question I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Home Affairs on 2nd February last to the hon. and gallant Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood) and the hon. Member for Stockport (Sir A. Gridley).
Sir Robert Perkins
, Stroud
Can my hon. Friend say whether these men will find employment in this country in consequence of any action by the Employment Exchanges?
Mr Alan Lennox-Boyd
, Mid Bedfordshire
Obviously the Exchanges cannot refuse to issue unemployment books to any man who is accepted for insured employment by an employer. That applies to all British subjects.
Sir Geoffrey Mander
, Wolverhampton East
Ought we not to be more patriotic and put the Empire first?
Mr Frederick Macquisten
, Argyll
Is it not a fact that if Ireland was a Republic, all these men would be aliens?
Mr William Thorne
, West Ham Plaistow
Is it not a fact that all these Irish labourers come and find work for themselves?
Mr David Logan
, Liverpool Scotland
Would not recognition of "Ireland a nation" solve the difficulty?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
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.
