1 / 8

Reform in the 1880s

Reform in the 1880s. Ballot Act 1872. Second Reform Act. 1832 Reform Act. 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

urbana
Download Presentation

Reform in the 1880s

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Reform in the 1880s Ballot Act 1872 Second Reform Act 1832 Reform Act Corrupt and illegal Practices Act, 1883

  2. 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

  3. 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)

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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’ Other anomalies

  8. 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

More Related