Reform in the 1880s

1832 Reform Act

Second Reform Act

Ballot Act 1872

Corrupt and illegal Practices Act, 1883

Wider electoral reforms• Having dealt with corruption, Gladstone

turned his attention to wider electoral reform

• Liberal Party was now split about reform• Chamberlain introduced a franchise bill in

1884 to grant males in the counties equal voting rights to males in the boroughs

• The lords blocked this, demanding that seats were redistributed at the same time

• Protest marches in Birmingham and Glasgow took place demanding reform

This led to two separate actsRepresentation of the People Act

1884• Extended the vote• Increased electorate

from 2.5 to 5 million• 2 out of 3 men in

England and Wales now had the vote

• Male householders and lodgers of 12 months got the vote

• Voting qualifications in boroughs and counties now the same (£10)

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885

• Aimed to construct constituencies of approximately equal size

• 79 towns with a population of under 15,000 lost both of their seats

• 36 towns with a population between 15,000 and 50,000 lost one seat, and between 50,000 and 165,000 kept two seats

• Universities kept two seats• Remainder of the country was divided

into single member constituencies• Total number of MPs increased from 652

to 670

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 Scotland

• 72 MPs now at Westminister

• 7 additional seats went to the counties

• Lanark county increased MPs from 2 to 6

• Fife, Perth and Renfrew increased representation to 2, Glasgow from 3 to 7, Edinburgh 2 to 4, Aberdeen 1 to 2

Third Reform Act-positives/negatives

• Moved Britain closer to a democracy• Put in place an electoral system which is

similar to the present system• However far from being a democratic

society, women still excluded as were male domestic servants, sons who lived at home, paupers on poor relief, soldiers living in barracks and those who had failed to pay their rates

Other anomalies

• Plural voting still existed. This meant that a man could have many votes if he owned property in different constituencies

• University still elected MPs

• University MPs were elected by PR

• ‘by modern standards, Victorian democracy was undemocratic’

Between 1885 and 1918 there were few attempts to widen the franchise

• 1918 Representation of the People Act finally removed the discrepancy of the male franchise and gave the vote to women aged 30 and over

• Women eventually equal voting rights in 1928

• Further 20th century reforms in 1948 and 1969 abolished university representation in Parliament and reduced the voting age from 21 to 18