Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 20 December 2016.
Ivan McKee
Scottish National Party
Does the Cabinet secretary agree that, despite the Conservatives’ dire predictions prior to the introduction of LBTT, the outturn data shows that, after the effect of forestalling is taken into account, the number of transactions in all price bands has continued to increase year on year? In fact, the number of transactions in the highest property band has increased strongly, which shows that the decision to ask those in the most expensive properties to pay a bit more on property transactions to help to fund public services was correct.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.
With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.
