Democracy; Great Britain -- Politics and government
While Liberals urge "one man, one vote" as the more democratic arrangement,
Conservatives reply by asking for "one vote, one value"--that is, a new
redistribution of seats, for in the last twenty-five years there have been
deep and extensive changes in the distribution of populations, and Ireland
in particular is over-represented, it is maintained. But then the
representation of Ireland in the House of Commons was really guaranteed by
the Act of Union, 1800.[85]
WORKING-CLASS REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT
With the extension of the franchise the change in the _personnel_ of the
House of Commons has become marked. The more wealthy of the middle class
entered in considerable numbers after 1832; the Acts of 1867 and 1884 made
the entry of the workman inevitable. The miners were the first to send
Labour representatives to Parliament, and to-day their members outnumber
those of any other trade. Since 1892 industrial constituencies, chiefly in
Yorkshire, Lancashire, South Wales, and the mining districts, have gone on
steadily electing and re-electing working-class representatives--trade
union secretaries and officers for the most part--and with the formation of
a National Labour Representation Committee in 1900, these representatives
became a separate and distinct party--the Labour Party after 1906--in the
House of Commons.
Enfranchisement to secure representation for the redress of grievances has
been the principle that has guided the English people towards democracy.
Both the middle class and the working class were convinced that
enfranchisement was necessary if the House of Commons was to be in any real
sense a representative assembly, and both have used enfranchisement for
obtaining representation in Parliament. The return of forty Labour Members
at recent general elections is evidence that a large electorate supports
the Labour Party in its desire to carry in Parliament legislation that will
make life a better thing for the labourer and his family; and in the House
of Commons the Labour Members have won a general respect. As a matter of
fact, the House of Commons to-day is in every way a more orderly, a more
intelligent, more business-like, and better-mannered assembly than it was
in the days before 1832.
No stronger evidence of the value of Parliamentary representation to the
working-class can be offered than the large output of what may be called
labour legislation in recent years. It is true that Lord Shaftesbury's
benevolent and entirely disinterested activities promoted Factory Acts in
the first half of the nineteenth century, but in the last twenty years
measures for the amelioration of the lot of the workman have been
constantly before Parliament.
REMOVAL OF RELIGIOUS DISABILITIES--CATHOLICS, JEWS, AND FREETHINKERS
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