European Parliament (Representation) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:10 pm on 9 January 2003.
Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.
Mr. Heath: In clause 3(2), the relevant date is specified as 1 December. Clause 15(4) contains a relevant date with regard to Gibraltar. Is there a coincidence between the two dates? Can the Minister assure me that the relevant date for the purpose of Gibraltar will be before or simultaneous to the relevant day with respect to clause 3?
Yvette Cooper: I cannot answer the hon. Gentleman's question immediately, partly because I am not entirely sure what it was. I think that he was referring to clause 9 and the date of 1 September 2003. Is that right?
Mr. Heath: I was referring to clause 15(4), which specifies a ''relevant date'' as far as an application for registration in the Gibraltar register is concerned. I am trying to ascertain the relationship between the ''relevant date'' and the ''relevant day'' specified in clause 3, which relates to registration for the overall franchise for the European elections.
Yvette Cooper: The day specified in clause 3 sets the electoral register so that the Electoral Commission can get on and work out the distribution of MEPs. It sets the electoral register as the being the register on the preceding 1 December. It will include United Kingdom and Commonwealth citizens and citizens of the Irish Republic resident in the UK who are entitled to vote. Members of the House of Lords and citizens of other member states who have registered to vote in the UK are entitled to vote in European elections.
Clause 15 refers to registration in Gibraltar. It is not related to the register for the calculation of the distribution of MEPs for exactly the same reason that we discussed earlier when the hon. Gentleman wanted to add the word ''Gibraltar''. I explained then that, because of the time scale, the two processes have to be carried out in parallel and therefore cannot relate to each other. The electoral register for Gibraltar will have to be put together separately and there will be separate dates in order to get the Gibraltarians registered in time for the 2004 elections.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
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.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
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.
