Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Naval and Military Pensions and Grants. – in the House of Commons at on 1 February 1940.
Mr Walter Elliot
, Glasgow Kelvingrove
Any medical treatment which such persons may require will be provided at the cost of the Exchequer through the Emergency Medical Service. The responsibility for seeing that such necessities as clothing, food and shelter are provided will rest in the first instance with the county or county borough council of the area in which the shipwrecked persons are landed, but they may in practice be provided from other sources. In the great Majority of cases expenditure so incurred by local authorities will be recoverable out of public funds.
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.
