Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Agriculture, Fisheries and Food – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 March 1964.
Mr Emanuel Shinwell
, Easington
12:00,
2 March 1964
Does this really mean that the Minister can hold out no hope for these farmers who are now complaining about their conditions and about their average incomes? Is that what it means—that the Minister can offer no hope to them? Is that the best he can say? Although we are not accusing him of seeking to make the farmers' conditions worse than they are, nevertheless will he not agree that this is the fault of the Government as a whole and that they can do nothing for the farmers and that nothing will be done until a Labour Government come to power?
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.
