Oral Answers to Questions — Environment – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 June 1991.
Mr Bob Dunn
, Dartford
12:00,
12 June 1991
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received any representations seeking recreation of the GLC.
Mr Michael Portillo
, Enfield, Southgate
I have not received any representations seeking recreation of the GLC.
Mr Bob Dunn
, Dartford
I speak for the people of Dartford and north-west Kent when I tell the Minister that we are opposed to any move to recreate the GLC and to extend its boundaries to the M25, as is the policy of the Labour party. Is my hon. Friend aware that that would mean the end of Dartford as an independent borough in the county of Kent?
Mr Michael Portillo
, Enfield, Southgate
The extraordinary thing is that even the Labour party is so embarrassed about the record of the GLC that it has to say that it will not recreate it. We know that if a Labour Government were elected, they would try to recreate something similar, but with greater powers and more bureaucracy. They would like to give it powers over the police. I cannot imagine anything worse than the body that indulged in undermining the police being given such powers.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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.
