Private Members' Bills – in the House of Commons at 2:29 pm on 26 February 1993.
Mr Alf Morris
, Manchester Wythenshawe
2:30,
26 February 1993
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Noting the objection by the hon. Member for Berkshire, East (Mr. MacKay), I have had to nominate 26 March, but I should like to raise a further point of order at a conventient moment.
Mr Michael Morris
, Northampton South
I thank the right hon. Gentleman.
Dennis Skinner
, Bolsover
On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Before the General Election last year a similar Bill was before the House and was talked out by a Tory Member who then lost his seat in the election. What has happened today is an utter disgrace. We have debated the disabled for several hours, yet the hon. Member for Berkshire, East (Mr. MacKay) has objected to the Bill. It is time that this hypocrisy was ended—
Mr Michael Morris
, Northampton South
Order. The hon. Gentleman knows full well that that is not a matter for the Chair.
A proposal for new legislation that is debated by Parliament.
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.
The Deputy speaker is in charge of proceedings of the House of Commons in the absence of the Speaker.
The deputy speaker's formal title is Chairman of Ways and Means, one of whose functions is to preside over the House of Commons when it is in a Committee of the Whole House.
The deputy speaker also presides over the Budget.
In a general election, each constituency chooses an MP to represent it by process of election. The party who wins the most seats in parliament is in power, with its leader becoming Prime Minister and its Ministers/Shadow Ministers making up the new Cabinet. If no party has a majority, this is known as a hung Parliament. The next general election will take place on or before 3rd June 2010.
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.
