The Growth of
Democracy
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Plan:
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We will examine the legislation that
was passed under the following
headings:
Widening the Franchise
Fairer Elections
Equal Votes/Constituencies
Representation/Participation
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1948
The end of plural voting
STEPS ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY
1928
All men and women over 21 get the vote
1918
Women over 30 get the vote
1911
MPs to be paid
1884
The unskilled male worker gets the vote
1885
Redistribution
of Seats Act
1872
The ballot is secret
1867
1883
Corrupt & Illegal Practices Act
Limits what spent at elections
The Skilled workers
get the vote
1832
The Middle Class
get the vote
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1. Widening the Franchise
 1832 Electoral Reform Act –
enfranchised (gives vote to) better off
middle class men – eg. Doctors and
Lawyers. Roughly 1 in 6 of the male
population could vote. Number of
voters in Scotland rises from 5,000 to
40,000.
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 1867 Representation of the People
Act – enfranchised better off and
better educated working class men –
eg. tradesmen, skilled workers like
carpenters. Roughly 1 in 3 of the male
population could vote. Roughly 2.5
million voters.
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 1884 Representation of the People
Act – enfranchised most working class
men. Roughly 2 in 3 of the male
population. BUT not poorer men,
lodgers, sons living at home, women.
Roughly 5 million of the adult male
population could vote.
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 1918 Representation of the People
Act – enfranchised nearly all adult
males over 21 but only some women
aged 30+.
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 1928 Representation of the People
Act – enfranchised nearly all adult
males and females over 21. Although
Britain was not a true democracy as
there were some voting anomalies – eg.
plural voting as students and
businessmen had 2 votes – one at home
and one at University/business
address.
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Activity – Widening
Franchise.
Act of
Parliament
How it made
Britain more
democratic
Analysis – was
Britain
democratic as a
result?
1867 Representation of the
People Act
1884 Representation of the
People Act
1918 Representation of the
People Act
1928 Representation of the
People Act
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Franchise Analysis
The analysis is very simple when discussing the
franchise:
 Look at the end date of the question e.g.
1914
 All you have to do is say Britain was more
democratic as 2 in 3 men had the vote after
1884, however Britain had a long way to go
before it was a true democracy as 1 in 3 men
did not have the vote e.g. servants, soldiers
etc who did not pay rent or rates and worst
of all, women were still denied the vote.
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2. Fairer Elections
 1872 Secret Ballot Act –
stress that this was viewed as one of
the most important steps towards
democracy by many people at the time
as:
- Avoid bribery and intimidation at
elections at open hustings.
- Voting in secret meant breaking power
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of big landlords in rural areas.
 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practices
Act – backed up the secret ballot by
making it a criminal offence that was
punishable by a fine, suspension from
parliament or even imprisonment to
try to bribe voters. Candidates now
had to limit spending and account for
spending during campaigning.
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Activity – Fairer Elections.
Act of
Parliament
How it made
Britain more
democratic
Analysis – was
Britain
democratic as a
result?
1872 Secret Ballot Act
1883 Corrupt and Illegal
Practices Act
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Analysis - Fairness
 The Secret Ballot Act 1872 & the Corrupt
and Illegal Practices Act 1883 were
important for democracy for a number of
reasons:
 They allowed the new Working Class voters
the ability to cast their votes for whoever
they wished without fear.
 After 1883 corruption in British elections
was much less and so Britain became more
democratic as it was no longer controlled by
rich men.
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3. Equal Votes/
Constituencies
 Aim – trying to make the number of voters in
each constituency roughly the same so that
no constituency is more important than
another.
 Corrupt constituencies known as ‘pocket’ or
‘rotten’ boroughs still existed where the
local landowner nominated the MP.
 1832 – tried to get rid of worst of “rotten”
or “pocket” burghs like Old Sarum.
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 1867 – continued to get rid of pocket burghs. The
1867 Reform Act got rid of rotten burghs, but
there were still big inconsistencies in the size of
constituencies e.g. the under populated Highlands
and Scottish Borders had 8 MPs each, yet a growing
city like Glasgow had only 3 MPs.
 1885 Redistribution of Seats Act – moved a lot of
MPs from rural areas to the new industrial cities –
eg. Glasgow increased to 7 MPs. Tried to make
constituencies roughly 50,000 each – however, still a
lot of overrepresentation in depopulated rural areas
– eg. Highlands and Borders still had 8 MPs each.
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 Equal constituencies really did not come until 1918
Representation of the People Act, which made all
constituencies roughly equal with 70,000 people. At
this time the number of MPs in Glasgow increased to
15.
 However plural voting still existed which allowed
certain people more than one vote e.g. a businessman
who lived in Motherwell and had his business in
Glasgow could vote in both areas or students could
vote in their home constituency and university
constituency.
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Activity – Equal
votes/constituencies.
Act of
Parliament
How it made
Britain more
democratic
Analysis – was
Britain
democratic as a
result?
1867 Reform Act
1885 Redistribution of
Seats Act
1918 Representation of the
People Act
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Equal Votes - Analysis
Equal voting was important to ensure fairness but
was a long slow process:
 The 1885 Redistribution of Seats Act helped to
make all areas roughly an equal size and did give
the big industrial cities like Glasgow more voters
however serious problems still existed e.g. rural
areas like the Highlands still had too many MPs,
unfairness of plural voting etc.
 1918 Reform Act was more democratic as it set
firm boundaries for constituencies of 70,000
each and stripped rural areas of their excess
MPs which were awarded to the big industrial
towns and cities. However plural voting still
existed and would not end till 1948.
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 In fact, equal constituencies is even a
‘hot topic’ today…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics14898736
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4. Representation/
Participation
 Aim – elected representatives should
be representative of the voters.
 Before 1867 voters were wealthy
landowners or middle class in towns and
so were most MPs. Half of all MPs were
the children of the aristocracy.
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 It was also thought that MPs should not be
paid so that they would be the right type of
person – eg. self-sufficient in and not in
politics for the money.
 It was also felt that the landowners and
upper classes in the House of Lords had a
right to speak out or block new laws from
the elected House of Commons.
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 1911 Parliament Acts
- Tried to allow poorer men to become
MPs by paying them £400 per year,
which allowed more of the working
class to become MPs. Example – Keir
Hardie was the illegitimate son of a
Lanarkshire miner.
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 1911 Parliament Act also severely
limited the powers of the unelected
House of Lords. House of Lords could
no longer outright reject a money bill
(new law). Could only delay non-money
bills 2 years (cut to one year in 1949).
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Activity –
Representation/Participation.
Act of
Parliament
How it made
Britain more
democratic
Analysis – was
Britain
democratic as a
result?
1911 Parliament Acts
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Analysis –
Representation/Participation
 Now there was pay for MPs – now possible
for the working class to stand for election
but examples like Keir Hardie from Holytown
in Lanarkshire were few.
 Although the powers of the House of Lords
became more limited – the House of
Commons still had to pass a vote in the
unelected, and therefore undemocratic,
House of Lords. As the Lords were made up
of wealthy men they rejected laws that did
not benefit them.
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