In reality, though not in name, the voter in Galway
is armed with something like twenty times the electoral power possessed by a voter in Wandsworth or the Romford division of Essex, and yet not a single Liberal voice is lifted against so gross an injustice. We are told, of course, that because the Liberals cannot see their way to do electoral justice to England it is no reason why they should not get rid of another electoral injustice in the shape of plural votes. That is the merest piece of political sophistry. All practical politicians know that Redistribution Bills are hated by both sides of the House, and that there is not the slightest chance of our obtaining electoral justice for England unless the abolition of plural voting is made conditional on the reduction of the over-representation of Ireland. If the late Government
could not be induced to reduce the Irish over-representation, though it was their plain duty as Unionists to do so, what possible chance is there of this Government giving to England the forty extra Members who belong to her, provided that they have passed the Plural Voting Bill P In this matter both political parties are extraordinarily unscrupulous, and the only chance of the country receiving justice is that the passage of the present Bill shall be made conditional on an impartial scheme of redistribution.
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