The resolution passed by the Lords when they rejected the budget implied that an election would be in the nature of a referendum, and so it was to a certain extent, but it was a very imperfect one. The law which permits plural voting was, as always, a great disadvantage to the Liberals, and undoubtedly lost them several seats. Again, there has been no distribution of seats since 1885, and the present arrangement is grossly inequitable. As an extreme example the member from Romford represents over seventeen times as many voters as the member from Whitehaven. The Liberals and Labor party are the ones who suffer from this condition. Ireland, whose representation is wholly Nationalist and Conservative, has one-fourth more members of Parliament than she is justly entitled to. Another thing which helped the Conservatives were “three-cornered contests” which gave them at least five seats as representatives of districts where the Liberal and Labor voters together far outnumbered the Conservatives. Then, again, the question was so confused with other matters that there was not a direct issue on the budget. Doubtless many free traders voted for Unionist candidates from opposition to Irish home rule or the policy of the Liberals on the school and liquor questions. It is the misfortune of the Liberals that their progressive policies at the same time encounter the three powerful interests represented by the landholders, the liquor dealers, and the Anglican Church. In Ireland the home rule question so overshadowed all others that there was no expression whatever of popular opinion on the budget, though enough is known to make it pretty certain that the majority would be against it. In England, Wales and Scotland, the popular majority of the Liberals and Laborites combined in spite of plural voting, was nearly three hundred thousand. It may be concluded that notwithstanding the growth of sentiment adverse to free trade the Lloyd-George budget would be adopted by a safe margin if it were submitted as a simple question to the British people. The actual result was the choice of 274 Liberals, 273 Conservatives, 82 Irish Nationalists and 41 Labor members, a situation which gives the Irish Nationalists under the leadership of John Redmond the balance of power.