Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 June 1964.
Mr Michael Hutchison
, Edinburgh South
12:00,
17 June 1964
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in slum clearance in Edinburgh since 1959.
Mr Michael Noble
, Argyll
About 3,600 unfit houses have been closed or demolished since the beginning of 1959 up to the end of March of this year.
Mr Michael Hutchison
, Edinburgh South
In welcoming this advance, may I ask my right hon. Friend what further progress might be expected? Can he tell the House that it is not lack of funds which is holding things up? Is it, perhaps, a shortage in the building force?
Mr Michael Noble
, Argyll
The position, I understand, is that Edinburgh Corporation has a number of schemes on hand and is ready to go forward with them. This should certainly increase the rate of clearance. I am not aware of any shortage of funds, although I know, as do other hon. Members, that there are shortages of certain skills in the building trade.
Mr Eustace Willis
, Edinburgh East
Is the Secretary of State aware that Edinburgh Corporation has the worst housing record of any of the large towns and that, under the Tory Government, a Tory town council has not been able to reach even its own inadequate targets?
Mr Michael Noble
, Argyll
I am sure that we all hope that Edinburgh Town Council will catch up.
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.
The political party system in the English-speaking world evolved in the 17th century, during the fight over the ascension of James the Second to the Throne. James was a Catholic and a Stuart. Those who argued for Parliamentary supremacy were called Whigs, after a Scottish word whiggamore, meaning "horse-driver," applied to Protestant rebels. It was meant as an insult.
They were opposed by Tories, from the Irish word toraidhe (literally, "pursuer," but commonly applied to highwaymen and cow thieves). It was used — obviously derisively — to refer to those who supported the Crown.
By the mid 1700s, the words Tory and Whig were commonly used to describe two political groupings. Tories supported the Church of England, the Crown, and the country gentry, while Whigs supported the rights of religious dissent and the rising industrial bourgeoisie. In the 19th century, Whigs became Liberals; Tories became Conservatives.
