Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at 5:25 pm on 31 January 2007.
Alasdair Morgan
Scottish National Party
5:25,
31 January 2007
I congratulate Murdo Fraser on securing the debate.
Last summer, while I was staying near Lille in northern France, I went to Belgium to visit Ypres. The first place at which we stopped was the Tyne Cot cemetery, which I think is the largest war cemetery. The panels at the cemetery—I am not talking about the tombstones—commemorate about 35,000 missing soldiers, whose names could not be accommodated on the main memorial.
We moved on to Ypres and its glorious town centre, which has a street that is so wide that it is almost a square, and magnificent old buildings. It looks like a typical Belgian town, but it is all a reconstruction, because the entire city centre was destroyed in the period from 1915. Close to the town centre is the Menin gate memorial, which was built in a gap in Vauban's fortifications, from the 17th century wars, on one of the main roads to the Passchendaele battlefields. The Menin gate memorial is huge and holds the names of 55,000 men who were missing after the battles—the rest are commemorated at Tyne Cot. Despite the presence of tourists, the last post, which is sounded at 8 o'clock by the Ypres fire brigade, is truly moving and I defy anyone not to experience a lot of emotion when they hear it.
When we add to the casualties that were suffered at Passchendaele, or the third battle of Ypres, the casualties that were suffered at the first battle of Ypres, in 1914, which in effect destroyed the first British expeditionary force, we arrive at numbers of missing, wounded and dead that beggar comprehension. The conditions in which civilians and soldiers on both sides fought are beyond our comprehension.
South of the border between Belgium and France, near Arras, there is a Scottish memorial, although I am not sure which Division it commemorates. Such are the changes over time that the memorial is now in the central reservation of a dual carriageway, so it is not the easiest place to visit, although I did achieve that feat.
There are a vast number of war cemeteries, which range from Tyne Cot, which has 12,000 tombstones, to cemeteries that have only a few graves. A few years ago, I visited the cemetery on the Sambre canal at Ors and came across the grave of Wilfred Owen, who was killed seven days before the armistice. I recommend a visit to one of the first world war cemeteries to any politician who thinks that he or she might ever be in charge of their country's troops, because I hope that their visit would make them think long and hard about the nature, purpose and consequences of war. I
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.
