Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 13 December 1973.
Mr Gerry Fitt
, Belfast West
12:00,
13 December 1973
I thought it right to draw the attention of the House to this and other incidents.
I believe that the vast Majority of people in Northern Ireland want to give these constitutional proposals a chance to work. It is because of the utterances of the hon. Member for Antrim, North and those who support him that the whole situation may be thrown into severe jeopardy. The future of Northern Ireland and its people is far more important than the political reputation of myself or any other politician, including the hon. Member for Antrim, North, in Northern Ireland.
This is a last desperate chance which must be taken. From the mail which I have received and the people who have come to see me since the original discussions in Northern Ireland and the tripartite talks I am absolutely convinced that many, many people want to give these proposals a chance. I can only support the Bill and the orders which will be brought before the House. In doing so, I am certain that I shall have the support of all hon. Members in the House and the people of Northern Ireland.
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.
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.
