Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Defence – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 12 February 2001.
Geoff Hoon
Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence
12:00,
12 February 2001
The Ministry of Defence is continuing to make excellent progress in implementing the long-term programme set out in the strategic defence review. More than half of the key measures have already been completed. The large Majority of the remainder are on track and we remain committed to ensuring that the strategic defence review is implemented in full.
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.
