Orders of the Day — REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE (No. 2) BILL.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 3 February 1931.

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Sir H. YOUNG:

He was commended in those days, and there are still some who would commend him. But there are no everlasting habitations for a Government which is prepared to govern without the will of the people. The Government must really pluck up their courage. It is no good the Prime Minister sitting there, like Fagan in the condemned cell, cursing the day on which his Government was born, and dreading the day when it will go to meet its maker—the people. Why linger trembling on the brink and fear to launch away? The day of reckoning must come, and in the long run it is always better boldly to face the people than try to shelter behind refuges concocted by political subtlety.

This is called "The Representation of the People Bill." Let it be given a shorter and more simple name. Let us call it The Wangle Bill—Wangle, by folly, out of funk. Common sense, a sense of fair play, and belief in the future of democracy, forbids the acceptance of this Bill. As believers in common sense, as believers in fair play—[Interruption]—and as strong believers that democracy has a brighter future before it than anything which will be secured by this Bill, we will oppose it with an opposition which nothing can reconcile.