DCY issue 2: How Britain 1867-1928 Flashcards
Introduction
In 1850 Britain was not a particularly democratic country as: very few adults had the right to vote; corruption was rife; representatives were unaccountable and there was really only a choice of two political parties, the Liberals and the Whigs, from which voters had to choose. However as the 19th century passed, a huge number of reforms would be passed which made Britain a much more democratic country. These reforms were focused on: increasing the franchise; making a fair voting system; providing access to information for voters; having a greater choice of parties; adults having the right to participate and politicians being more accountable. It is clear that by 1918 great strides towards democracy had been taken but it was not accurate to call Britain a fully democratic country.
Universal Suffrage
K-Universal suffrage, the right for all adults to vote, is a must-have for every democratic country. The Third Reform Act 1884 gave men in the countryside the same voting rights as men in towns.
A-This was important as it levelled the playing field for male voters in terms of property qualifications and enabled men in the countryside to express their political opinions for the first time.
K-The Representation of the People Act 1918 abolished property qualifications for men and extended the franchise to all men over the age of 21.
A-This was important as this then led to women being given the right to vote.
A+-However, this was not applied on the same terms as men because women had to be over 30, meet a property qualification, have a university degree and be married.
Voting must be Fair
K-In 1872, The Secret Ballot Act was passed, which meant that all votes would be cast in secret rather than allowing the landlords and potential candidates to see who voted for who.
A-This was important as it made voters less likely to be intimidated or bribed into choosing a certain candidate just because they had money or status.
A+-However, it didn’t completely stop corruption happening in the system, and other acts would need to be in place to solve this issue, showing that The Secret Ballot Act was only effective in a small way.
K-The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act 1883 detailed how much money candidates and their agents could spend on campaigns during elections, making the elections based more on what policies people had rather than who had the most money to bribe voters.
A-This was important because candidates couldn’t buy poor voters food or drink, lessening how much corruption and bribery there was in the system, therefore making politics more democratic in Britain.
Choice of parties
K-By 1900, the Labour Party was established to represent the values of the working class.
A-This was important as it meant that the working class now had a choice for who to vote for that focused on their interests.
A+-However, there was still only three main parties that dominated parliament and because of the “first past the post” voting system, smaller parties struggled to gain seats, even if they had a good number of votes.
K- During the mid-19th century, the literacy rate in Britain was low and citizens struggled to make a decision on who to vote for. From the 1870s, widespread public education became readily available and began to increase literacy rates.
A-This was important as it allowed people to gain access to political information that was available to them such as party manifestos.
Accountability
K-In 1911 though, the power the lords had over bills was taken away and they could no longer veto or interfere with budgets. Parliament was then made much more accountable to electorates as the lords now had much less power over the elected representatives of the people. The 1911 Parliament Act also reduced the time between elections from 7 years to 5.
A-This was important as any MP could be voted out of power much quicker than before if voters weren’t happy with them. There was now more pressure placed on MPs to do a better job and work well for their constituency to ensure they wouldn’t be voted out in the next election.
Conclusion
To conclude, by 1918 a great deal of progress had been made towards democracy in Britain: most adults now had the right to vote; the voting system was now much fairer and free from most corruption; Britons had a choice of political parties that represented a range of interests and people were able to make an informed choice about who to vote for; finally, both elected and unelected representatives were much more accountable to the people they represented.
However, despite these advances it is clear that Britain was not a fully democratic country in 1918 for a number of reasons. Universal suffrage did not exist and the number of women who could vote was pathetically small and therefore Britain could not be considered fully democratic in 1918.
Furthermore there remained issues with voting as some men could still vote more than once thanks to university MPs and the first past the post system of voting restricted voters to three main parties because there was less of a chance of smaller parties winning any seats without proportional representation. There also remained issues with accountability given the existence of a monarch as the head of state and the continued power of an unelected House of Lords. Because of this, it is clear that the statement is not accurate and that Britain was not a fully democratic country in 1918.
