We must next ask what amount of reliance for working
majorities can be placed upon the Labour group. The answer is hardly more satisfactory from the " Liberal point of view. The Labour Leader, the organ of the Labour Party, deals with the position in the following strain :— " The Labour Party is as absolutely independent in its con- stitution and action as the Irish. It will have the power of destroying the Government ; and while it will not wish to do so if Mr. Asquith is faithful to his promise, its support can only be counted upon for a resolutely democratic course of action. The Labour Members have stood not for the reform, but for the aboli- tion, of the House of Lords. There is no such body of opinion in favour of a strengthening of the Idlers' House, and any step in that direction must be combated with all our strength."
