Oral Answers to Questions — Electoral Register – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 8 December 1949.
Mr Thomas Skeffington-Lodge
, Bedford
12:00,
8 December 1949
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department into what category of persons, specified in Form R.P.F. 9, do Members of this House fall in respect of their applications for a postal vote at the forthcoming General Election.
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
A person, now a Member of this House, who proposes to be a candidate in a Constituency other than that in which he is an elector may apply on that ground, on the form in question, to vote by post at a General Election.
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.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
