Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Public Building and Works – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 21 December 1964.
Miss Lee:
I do not know on what grounds this admonition is made. So far I have been extremely gentle, and I hope that when my statement is made it will meet with the approval of the overwhelming Majority of the House.
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
