Part of Orders of the Day — Housing Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 13 April 1964.
Mr James Ede
, South Shields
12:00,
13 April 1964
The Government are not treating the House fairly on this part of the Bill, which we have been discussing for the last hour or more. One can sympathise with the Parliamentary Secretary. He sits in his place like Casablanca. His right hon. Friend has gone and although we have been dealing with extremely complicated legal matters—and the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, South (Mr. Cole) has just pointed out how complex this Amendment is—we have not had the advice of one of the Law Officers of the Crown on exactly how this Amendment will work in practice in the courts. I hope an explanation can be given to the hon. Member for Bedfordshire, South about the Amendment, because we are taking grave risks in passing or rejecting Amendments when we have no legal advice about their exact import and how, on these complicated legal matters, they will work in practice in the courts.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Of a male MP, sitting on his regular seat in the House. For females, "in her place".
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
