Part of Private Members' Business – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 2:45 pm on 10 September 2024.
Debate resumed on amendment to motion:
That this Assembly expresses its grave concern at the significant budgetary pressures facing the Executive; recognises the severe impact of these pressures on the delivery of, and investment in, public services, including policing and justice, health and social care, education, housing, infrastructure and our environment; notes that these pressures have arisen as a result of a failed policy of austerity at Westminster, financial mismanagement by the previous UK Government and underfunding of Northern Ireland below its level of relative need; agrees that, while the interim fiscal framework agreed with the UK Government was an important first step, the proposed 124% relative need factor does not adequately reflect policing and justice need in Northern Ireland and the disproportionate squeeze on the Justice budget; believes that a baselined fiscal floor set at a level greater than 124% should be delivered without further delay; calls on the Minister of Finance to publish the Executive sustainability plan, including steps to tackle the cost of division in society, which leaves the Executive with hundreds of millions of pounds less to invest in public services each year; and further calls on the UK Government to depart from their austerity policy by reviewing the fiscal rules and pursuing a progressive taxation system. — [Mr Tennyson.]
Which amendment was:
Leave out all after the first "relative need;" and insert: "agrees that, while the interim fiscal framework agreed with the UK Government was an important first step, the proposed 124% relative need factor will, as things stand, only apply to future Barnett consequentials and cannot remedy the damage caused by core funding for Northern Ireland dropping below need, prior to the restoration of devolution in February 2024; stresses that this will have a significant, adverse and recurrent impact on the scale of the Northern Ireland block grant and therefore the delivery of vital front-line services; further notes that the proposed 124% relative need factor does not adequately reflect policing and justice need in Northern Ireland and the disproportionate squeeze on the Justice budget; believes that a baselined fiscal floor, set at a level greater than 124%, should be delivered without further delay; calls on the Minister of Finance to publish the Executive sustainability plan, including steps to tackle inefficiencies and duplication, which leaves the Executive with less to invest in public services each year; and further calls on the UK Government to depart from their austerity policy by agreeing a new, long-term financial settlement with the Executive, reviewing the fiscal rules and pursuing a progressive taxation system." — [Ms Forsythe.]
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.
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.
The House of Commons votes by dividing. Those voting Aye (yes) to any proposition walk through the division lobby to the right of the Speaker and those voting no through the lobby to the left. In each of the lobbies there are desks occupied by Clerks who tick Members' names off division lists as they pass through. Then at the exit doors the Members are counted by two Members acting as tellers. The Speaker calls for a vote by announcing "Clear the Lobbies". In the House of Lords "Clear the Bar" is called. Division Bells ring throughout the building and the police direct all Strangers to leave the vicinity of the Members’ Lobby. They also walk through the public rooms of the House shouting "division". MPs have eight minutes to get to the Division Lobby before the doors are closed. Members make their way to the Chamber, where Whips are on hand to remind the uncertain which way, if any, their party is voting. Meanwhile the Clerks who will take the names of those voting have taken their place at the high tables with the alphabetical lists of MPs' names on which ticks are made to record the vote. When the tellers are ready the counting process begins - the recording of names by the Clerk and the counting of heads by the tellers. When both lobbies have been counted and the figures entered on a card this is given to the Speaker who reads the figures and announces "So the Ayes [or Noes] have it". In the House of Lords the process is the same except that the Lobbies are called the Contents Lobby and the Not Contents Lobby. Unlike many other legislatures, the House of Commons and the House of Lords have not adopted a mechanical or electronic means of voting. This was considered in 1998 but rejected. Divisions rarely take less than ten minutes and those where most Members are voting usually take about fifteen. Further information can be obtained from factsheet P9 at the UK Parliament site.
