Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – in the House of Commons at 4:31 pm on 3 July 2007.
Michael Martin
Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, Speaker of the House of Commons, Chair, Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
4:31,
3 July 2007
Order. I know that the vast Majority of hon. Members are courteous, but loud conversations are taking place. That is not good for the democracy that we hold so dear.
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.
