Rotten borough

Some small rotten boroughs continued to elect MPs while growing industrial towns lacked MPs of their own. For example, Old Sarum elected two MPs despite having a tiny electorate, whereas Manchester had no separate parliamentary representation. Changing the electoral system therefore involved two connected questions: who could vote, and which places elected MPs.

A rotten borough could retain parliamentary representation despite having very few voters. Old Sarum, for example, continued to return MPs, while large industrial towns such as Manchester and Birmingham had no MPs of their own. Representation did not adequately reflect where people now lived or the importance of growing towns.