Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 February 1947.
Mr John Hynd
, Sheffield, Attercliffe
12:00,
5 February 1947
In January, 1947, there were approximately 269,000 non-German displaced persons in the British zone of Germany and 68,000 in the British zone of Austria. Of those in Germany the Majority are Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Esthonians and Yugoslavs. In Austria the majority are Yugoslavs, Poles and Hungarians.
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.
