Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 18 October 2005.
Anne McIntosh
Shadow Minister (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs)
2:30,
18 October 2005
I, too, am a non-practising member of the Faculty of Advocates, and I think that it is even longer since I last practised.
It has been customary when the Advocate-General has answered questions in the House that she tells us a little about the cases on which she has been consulted. Perhaps the Secretary of State would care to elaborate on that. Perhaps he would like to tell us why the Advocate-General has not yet spoken as Advocate-General in the House of Lords. We, in this place, would find that of great interest.
Because of our interest in the work of the Advocate-General, I am sure that—
The house of Lords is the upper chamber of the Houses of Parliament. It is filled with Lords (I.E. Lords, Dukes, Baron/esses, Earls, Marquis/esses, Viscounts, Count/esses, etc.) The Lords consider proposals from the EU or from the commons. They can then reject a bill, accept it, or make amendments. If a bill is rejected, the commons can send it back to the lords for re-discussion. The Lords cannot stop a bill for longer than one parliamentary session. If a bill is accepted, it is forwarded to the Queen, who will then sign it and make it law. If a bill is amended, the amended bill is sent back to the House of Commons for discussion.
The Lords are not elected; they are appointed. Lords can take a "whip", that is to say, they can choose a party to represent. Currently, most Peers are Conservative.
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.
The House of Commons.
