Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Malaya and Singapore – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 January 1947.
Mr Denis Pritt
, Hammersmith North
12:00,
22 January 1947
asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been, or are being, taken to implement the pledge that all sections of opinion will be consulted before any final decisions are taken in relation to the constitution of the Singapore Municipal Council, to citizenship of the Malayan Union, and to the constitution of the Malayan Union; what organisations have in fact been consulted; and whether he will undertake that no final decisions shall be reached on these matters until Parliament has the opportunity to consider them.
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.