Parliament was in the hands of the wealthy

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The Industrial Revolution turned this problem into a crisis, as new towns like Manchester and Birmingham exploded with former country dwellers trapped in urban slums without any representation or protection. Voting was restricted to landowners, defined as those who owned a house with a kitchen fireplace. The saying goes: if you could boil – or ‘kick’ in British jargon – a pot of water in your own home, then you could vote. (The term “potwalloper” has become another word for voter.) This restriction has helped prevent people receiving church aid – especially poor Irish Catholics – from voting.

A particularly infuriating act of a disconnected Parliament was the Corn Laws of 1815. This tariff on imported food was intended to protect the incomes of the farmer gentlemen – often referred to as nobles – who sold their crops in domestic markets at inflated prices. . Riots quickly broke out because of the rising price of bread; famine conditions among the poor accompanied poor harvests.

The main purpose of the law was to redesign the districts of the job function email database gerrymandered Parliament, which still conformed to the boundaries determined in the 12th century when the institution was in its infancy.

But , especially a bloc called “The West India Interest” which had investments in Caribbean sugar cane plantations and was dedicated to preserving black slavery. They did not mind the high tariffs on wheat, and many who owned estates in both hemispheres were getting richer.

Although colonies like Jamaica and Barbados officially have no seats in parliament, their large locals were able to find their way thanks to old legislative maps. They also exploited an 1800 law that created a dual-district representation system, which allowed two deputies from each district, regardless of how many people lived there. Medieval abandoned towns with almost no inhabitants could still send two representatives to London. One was a cathedral on top of a hill that had collapsed in the 13e century. Another was a crumbling port city almost entirely under water.