Fairness

Question 1

Topic sentence

Answer 1

A further aspect of a democracy is fairness, meaning that the voting system is open an s free of corruption and bribery.

Question 2

Background

Answer 2

In 1850, the British voting system was far from democratic as it was unfair. Parliamentary seats were unfairly distributed and voting was done publicly which meant that people were subjected to bribery.

Question 3

Evidence 1

Answer 3

The secret ballot act 1872 was introduced to enable votes to be cast in secret which reduced the opportunity for bribery.

Question 4

Analysis 1

Answer 4

This led to Britain becoming more democratic because it meant that voters could not be lured in or pressurised to vote in a particular way.

Question 5

Evidence 2

Answer 5

Furthermore, ten second reform act 1867 redistributed parliamentary seats by redistributing seats to more populated parts of the country.

Question 6

Analysis 2

Answer 6

This led to Britain becoming more democratic because populated areas stated to become better represented, for example extra MPs were given seats to represent Manchester and Liverpool which had growing populations.

Question 7

Counter Analysis

Answer 7

However it could be argued the the voting system wasn’t fully fair with land owning interests in the South of England which were over represented until the1884 third reform act which removed the distinction between boroughs and counties.

Question 8

Evaluation

Answer 8

To evaluate it appears that the issue of fairness had been addressed quit well by 1872 as it was almost impossible for a corrupt political to “buy voters”. However it wasn’t until the corruption and illegal practices as t 1883 was passed which limited how much candidates could spend on elections and introduced a fairer system to redistribute seats, this was still in place by 1918.