Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 July 2016.
Rory Stewart
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
12:00,
7 July 2016
In addition to welcoming the Shadow Secretary of State to her position, may I also welcome my friend Paul Flynn to his position?
As for the flooding in Carlisle, my hon. Friend John Stevenson is a great champion of his Constituency. If there is an individual leasehold property, it would be covered with affordable insurance under Flood Re. Unfortunately, when there is a larger number of properties, such as the more than 60 properties that the landlord has in this case, it would be classified as commercial insurance and would require a bespoke, tailored commercial insurance product from the insurance industry. I am happy to look at the individual case, and the British Insurance Brokers’ Association is also coming up with tailored products exactly to address such commercial risks.
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 shadow cabinet is the name given to the group of senior members from the chief opposition party who would form the cabinet if they were to come to power after a General Election. Each member of the shadow cabinet is allocated responsibility for `shadowing' the work of one of the members of the real cabinet.
The Party Leader assigns specific portfolios according to the ability, seniority and popularity of the shadow cabinet's members.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
