Counties The Voting Qualification example essay topic

Democracy is government by the people, for the people. The second reform act of 1867 advanced Britain on its path to democracy although there remained many undemocratic aspects in the governance of Britain. The 1867 reform bill did many things to increase democracy in Britain. It increased the electorate by a million meaning that one in three adult males were enfranchised. The act also redistributed seats in recognition of the shift from a large rural population to an urban one. 52 seats were abolished and these seats were given to new cities such as Leeds and Manchester and the larger counties gained MP's as all counties, regardless os size getting 2 MPs was deemed unfair.

Despite the changes which the second reform act brought, Britain was far from democracy in 1868. Although the number of people who could vote had increased by a million to one in three adult males this still meant that two thirds of men could not vote and women could not vote. Democracy is rule by the people so if the majority of 'the people ' can't vote then rule by the people cant be achieved. The reason why so few men could vote was that voting rights were still linked to property. In the boroughs adult male householders could vote after one years residence but in the counties the voting qualification remained the same from 1832. This meant that those newly enfranchised were mainly in the towns whilst their counterparts in the counties were at a disadvantage until this was rectified in 1884.1867 did not address the problem of the relatively small number of people who were able to become MPs.

There was still a property qualification which excluded many but more importantly was the fact that there was no payment for MPs. This meant that the vast majority of MPs were from the aristocracy. The middle classes could not afford to be away from their businesses for long periods of time as there was a possibility of their business collapsing without them there. The problem of bribery and intimidation by powerful groups in society during elections meant that free and fair elections were not a normal practise but an exception.

This bribery and corruption was allowed to continue primarily because there was no secret ballot. With a secret ballot bribery is made futile because you cant check if the person which you bribed to vote for you actually has. The secret ballot act was only passed in 1872. Spending on elections was not limited so bribery and corruption was allowed to be funded during elections.

For example it has been estimated that in the elections of 1880, lb 1.5 million was spent on bribery and corruption. Democracy also means the redistribution of seats to mean that all votes are equal as they have equal weighting in deciding on the people's representatives in parliament. Although there was a lot of seat redistribution in the 1867 reform act with 52 borough seats being abolished, the distribution of seats still did not accurately reflect Britain's population distribution. The counties still had a lower proportion of voters to seats than the boroughs and the south was over represented. In a democracy all votes are equal and there is one vote per person.

This was not the case in 1868 due to the existence of plural voting. 'This meant that people who lived in one constituency and owned a business in another, or who had graduated from one of the universities that possessed their own parliamentary seats, were allowed extra seats' (Good lad). For example Joseph Chamberlain had six votes and it is estimated that half a million people had plural votes in 1880. They were finally abolished in 1948. Democracy means that the government of the country is carried out by the people or their elected representatives. However the House of Lords had the power to veto legislation passed in the House of Commons.

This meant that a non-elected body determined the outcome of legislation passed by the elected body. The will of the House of Commons could be frustrated by the heredity House of Lords. It can be argued that Britain is not a perfectly democratic state now because the first past the post system means that all votes are not equal. Britain was far from being democratic in 1868. Few could vote and even fewer had the capability of becoming MPs. Corruption could and did still occur whilst the distribution of seats was still biassed towards the counties and the South.

A non-elected body had the final say over what legislation could be passed by the elected body. As Disraeli said in 1870, 'the elements do democracy do not exist in England'.