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.