– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 26 November 1964.
Mr Harold Lever
, Manchester Cheetham
I beg to move, That the Clause be read a Second time.
The Clause is obvious common sense. It is self-explanatory and I need not argue it. I hope that the Government will accept it.
Mr Graham Page
, Crosby
May I speak to the Clause? The hon. Member for Cheetham (Mr. Harold Lever), whose sole contribution during the last two or three hours has been to giggle at other Members, has produced this Clause, which relates to costs which he intends to award to one side only—the tenant
unless it shall appear unreasonable in the circumstances to do so.
Surely when the court awards costs it does so in its discretion, having considered whether it is reasonable to award them to one side or the other. What is the point of putting this in the Statute? It will only prejudice one party or the
other. Cannot it be left to the discretion of the court? All through the previous Clause we were told, "Leave it to the discretion of the court". Now the Government are to accept the Clause—
Mr Graham Page
, Crosby
No? I am satisfied that heads are being shaken. So I will sit down.
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.
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.
