Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Scotland – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 8 May 2007.
Peter Atkinson
Conservative, Hexham
2:30,
8 May 2007
I was grateful for the answer that the Minister gave to a written question that I tabled about this subject on behalf of a constituent with a second home in Scotland who was refused registration. We then discovered that Scottish MPs with second homes in London were able to vote locally. There are irregularities in the way in which registration officers apply the rules across the country, because some will grant second home owners a vote, while others will not. Given that second home owners now pay virtually full council tax, will the Minister ensure that they will have the right to vote if they want to, bearing in the mind the phrase "no taxation without representation"?
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.
