Oral Answers to Questions — Housing – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 October 1969.
Mr Frank Allaun
, Salford East
12:00,
14 October 1969
asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government if he will publish a further list of local authorities which have recently cut, or propose to cut, their housing programmes; and what steps he proposes to take to reverse this trend.
Mr Anthony Greenwood
, Rossendale
As I told my hon. Friend yesterday, I am concerned about these apparent cuts and I am inviting the authorities concerned to discuss their programmes with me.
Mr Frank Allaun
, Salford East
Will the Minister bring pressure to bear on the guilty councils, particularly by spotlighting significant cuts in such blatant cases as Bradford, Harrow, Ealing, Coventry and Dudley? Secondly, in addition to seeing them, which I appreciate, would he consider taking powers to refuse to allow cuts in special circumstances?
Mr Anthony Greenwood
, Rossendale
I cannot hold out any hope of further legislation at the moment. I have noted what my hon. Friend has said. We must all appreciate that the situation in all the areas may not be identically the same, but I can say from the Government's point of view that we have not held back the housing programme of a single priority housing authority.
Mr John Lee
, Reading
Will my right hon. Friend re-think his last Answer? Will not the cutting of housing programmes be part of the Conservative Party's election gamesmanship? We ought to provide against it for that as well as for social reasons.
Mr Anthony Greenwood
, Rossendale
I am fully in sympathy with what my hon. Friend has said, particularly as under the Tory Government completions averaged only 310,000 a year.
Mr Graham Page
, Crosby
In view of the Minister's own cut in the overall figure from 500,000 to 400,000, or whatever it may be, does he genuinely want local authorities to increase their housing programmes?
Mr Anthony Greenwood
, Rossendale
Every priority authority has had full power to build to the maximum of its capacity and will continue to do so.
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.
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.
