Orders of the Day — HOUSE OF COMMONS (REDISTRIBUTION OF SEATS) (No. 2) BILL – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 October 1969.
Mr James Callaghan
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee, Treasurer, Labour Party
I beg to move, That this House doth disagree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
Mr James Callaghan
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee, Treasurer, Labour Party
I beg to move the following Amendment to the words so restored to the Bill: in page 3, line 31, at end insert:
(5) Section 2 of this Act, in so far as it provides for giving effect to the report made by the Boundary Commission for England, shall not apply to so much of that report as relates to Greater London, and references in this Act to giving effect to that report under that section shall be construed accordingly; but in subsection (4) above the reference to an Order in Council made under section 3 of the Redistribution of Seats Act includes, in relation to areas outside Greater London, an order made by virtue of section 2 of this Act.
The House of Commons is one of the houses of parliament. Here, elected MPs (elected by the "commons", i.e. the people) debate. In modern times, nearly all power resides in this house. In the commons are 650 MPs, as well as a speaker and three deputy speakers.
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.
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.
