Change From Below, The Formulation Of Demands

Well, It All Began With Democracy. Before We Had The Vote All The Power Was In The Hands Of Rich People. If You Had Money You Could Get Health Care, Education, Look After Yourself When You Were Old, And What Democracy Did Was To Give The Poor The Vote And It Moved Power From The Marketplace To The Polling Station, From The Wallet...to The Ballot.

I've Been A Member Of The Labour Party Sixty Five Years, And I Remain In It, But I Think It's All About Campaigning For Justice And Peace, And If You Do That, You Get A Lot Of Support.

We Have Been In Recess Since July, And During That Time There Has Been A Fuel Crisis, A Danish No Vote, The Collapse Of The Euro And A War In The Middle East, But What Is Our Business Tomorrow? The Insolvency Bill [lords]. It Ought To Be Called The Bankruptcy Bill [commons], Because We Play No Role.

I Try Not To Make Political Arguments Personal. It Doesn't Help And It Switches A Lot Of People Off. The Real Questions: Will We Have Peace? Will We Have Justice? Will We Have Pensions? Will We Have Free Education? Will We Have Public Services? .... Those Are The Sort Of Things Which Interest Me. I Don't Think That Having A Go At Individuals Really Helps Get Your Point Across Apart From Anything Else.

If Democracy Is Destroyed In Britain, It Will Be Not The Communists, Trotskyists Or Subversives But This House Which Threw It Away. The Rights That Are Entrusted To Us Are Not For Us To Give Away. Even If I Agree With Everything That Is Proposed, I Cannot Hand Away Powers Lent To Me For Five Years By The People Of Chesterfield. I Just Could Not Do It. It Would Be Theft Of Public Rights.