Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 October 1969.
Mr Thomas Peart
, Workington
12:00,
30 October 1969
The business for next week will be as follows:
MONDAY, 3RD NOVEMBER.—The Debate on the Address in reply to the Gracious Speech will be continued on Monday, 3rd November, when, subject to the tabling and selection of Amendments, there will be a debate on the economic situation.
TUESDAY, 4TH NOVEMBER.—The debate on the Address will be brought to a conclusion on Tuesday, 4th November, when, subject to the tabling and selection of Amendments, there will be a debate on housing.
This will be followed by a Motion on the Assistance for House Purchase and Improvement (Increase of Subsidy) Order.
WEDNESDAY, 5TH NOVEMBER.—Second Reading of the Local Employment Bill and of the Expiring Laws Bill.
THURSDAY, 6TH NOVEMBER.—Second Reading of the Agriculture Bill.
FRIDAY, 7TH NOVEMBER.—Second Reading of the Insolvency Services (Accounting and Investment) Bill.
Motion on the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) (Colliery Workers Supplementary Scheme) Amendment (No. 2) Order.
MONDAY, 10TH NOVEMBER.—Second Reading of the General Rate Bill. Motions on the Restriction of Merger Order and on the Milk Marketing 1933 Amendment Scheme.
The debate on the Royal Address, or Queen's Speech, is the first major debate of any parliamentary session and lasts for five or six days.
It provides MPs and peers with an early opportunity to discuss the government's proposed programme for the year.
Debate begins after the Royal Address has been moved by two backbench government MPs. These speeches will be non-party political and humorous and each Member will talk mainly about their constituency.
The Leader of the Opposition then comments on the contents of the legislative programme, followed by the prime minister who defends the government's policies and proposals.
The Leader of the third major party, being at present the Liberal Democrats, then responds, after which backbenchers may speak. A similar pattern is followed in the Lords.
Traditionally, economic affairs are left until the last day, and the opening speech for the government on this day of the debate is made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Second Reading is the most important stage for a Bill. It is when the main purpose of a Bill is discussed and voted on. If the Bill passes it moves on to the Committee Stage. Further information can be obtained from factsheet L1 on the UK Parliament website.
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.
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
