How Democratic Britian Was by the 1928? Essay

â€Å"Democracy is the government of the people, for the people, by the people† (Abraham Lincoln, President of the USA, 1860-1865)† For any country to be called democratic, certain conditions have to exist. Firstly, all adults should have the right to vote but the right to vote did not in itself make Britain democratic. Between 1850 and 1928, other features of a democracy were created. These features included a fair system of voting, a choice of who to vote for and access to information to make an informed choice. It should also be possible for people from all backgrounds to become Members of Parliament themselves and parliament should be accountable to the voters. Although the transition from a political system dominated by aristocracy to one of universal suffrage was a long and protracted one by 1928, most of the features of a democracy had been met. Consequently Britain had become more democratic than it was in 1850. It is no wonder that John Kerr describes Britain as being â€Å"nowhere near being democratic in 1850.† The state of democracy in Britain had been set by the Great Reform Act of 1832 which increased the number of men who could vote in a general election and redistributed parliamentary seats so that there was a more equal ratio of MPs to constituents. However Britain was still far from being democratic. The system was not fair as voting took place in hustings meaning there was no secret ballot, making it possible for candidates to bribe and intimidate the voters and general elections were only held every seven years. Another aspect of the British political system that was undemocratic was the unequal distribution of seats and MPs still representing county and borough constituencies with great variations in size of population. Moreover, the Tory dominated House of Lords was unelected and it could stop the elected majority of the House of Commons getting bills though parliament a nd only wealthy men could stand as candidates for election as there was a property qualification. It could be suggested that Britain was undemocratic in 1850 as working class men and all women were excluded from the franchise and only 7% of the population were entitled to vote. Between 1850 and 1928 a series of acts were introduced that extended the franchise. The Second Parliamentary Reform Act of 1867 was the first piece of legislation that tried to amend the political system. As a result of this Act, the size of the electorate increase to 2.5 million including the skilled working class meaning a third of males were now able to vote. However, the vote still depended on property and the one year residency requirement discriminated against a large proportion of the working class. The introduction of the Representation of the People Act in 1884 doubled the electorate making the number of voters five million and the franchise qualification was now the same in both boroughs and counties. Although Sir Albert Maine described the new system as an â€Å"unmoderated democracy† there was still a long way to go until Britain became democratic. The men who did not have the franchise in 1867 such as the soldiers and male domestic servants were still deprived of the vote in 1884 and as with 1867 plural voting still existed and no women were allowed to vote. The Representation of the People Act 1918 extended the franchise to all adult males because of their important role in the Great War meaning that all males over the age of twenty one were now enfranchised. For the first time, women over the age of 30 were given the vote provided they were educated, married and had a home. Although this was a major step towards democracy as regards women’s suffrage, it mus t be noted that there was not equal universal suffrage, and that women would have to wait until the 1928 Equal Franchise Act to be set on equal voting terms as men without qualifications, to receive the vote at the age of 21. As a result of the increase in voters in towns, changes were made to National Party Organisation as party leaders had to find ways of persuading the electors to vote for their candidate. National organisations such as the Conservative Central Office in 1870 and the National Liberal Federation in 1877, were developed by the parties to canvass support at elections. Liberal and Conservative Associations were developed in all major towns and electors were encouraged to join and attend meetings. Liberal and Conservative clubs were set up as social centres to encourage support such as the Reform Club in Manchester and the Carlton Club. This led to more central co-ordination of policy and strategy. Propaganda and persuasion would be the means of enlisting the support of the voters and the parties had to ensure that their known supporters were registered as voters. The Conservative Primrose League was created to canvass support in small towns and the counties. Tighter discipline was imposed in both parties and the result was a development of political parties and their organisations. Overall, better representation helped the growth of democracy as well as better access to information as manifestos had to be created and distributed to the population. The 1970 Education Act (1872 in Scotland) increased the literacy levels in the country so that information about political parties and their policies became more accessible to the population. By the late 19th century literacy was fairly well established and daily national newspapers became vital sources of information. The development of the railways was crucial in giving the population better access to information. The population was able to make more informed choices in elections as they became more aware of political issues. Socialist groups eventually joined with the Trade Union movement to form the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 which in 1906, became the Labour Party- a party that claimed to represent the working class. This meant that the electorate had a genuine choice of parties with different political ideologies: the Conservatives, Liberals and the Labour Party. Consequently, this pushed Britain forward towards democracy as different can different parties can voice different views on how to deal with the problems the country faces. Although Britain had become more democratic with better access to information and a choice of parties certain aspects of the system were unfair until legislation was introduced to improve this. The Reform Act of 1867 improved the distribution of seats making the system fairer in addition to extending the franchise. The facts show that many small boroughs lost one or even both of their MPs who were then redistributed to areas of the country that were under-represented. For example, Scottish constituencies were allocated 5 seats. However, democracy was still far from being reached in Britain as MPs were still not evenly distributed, the electorate largely remained the same and balance of political power was not altered. The Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885 moved Britain closer towards democracy as it aimed to construct constituencies of equal size to have a fairer representation of the people. As result of the Act, 79 towns with a population of under 15,000 lost both their seats and the total number of MPs was increased from 652 to 670. In fact, in his book â€Å"The extension of the Franchise 1832-1931† puts forward his opinion: â€Å"together, the 1884 Franchise Act and the 1885 Redistribution Act brought about one of the most radical changes in the parliamentary election system during the nineteenth century. Bribery and corruption were still present in elections in the late 1860s and two laws were passed in an effort to eliminate this. The Secret Ballot Act of 1872 allowed voting to be done in secret so electorates were free from intimidation. It meant that the newly enfranchised working class would not be pressurized into voting for their landlords in fear of losing their home or jobs. The secret ballot was an improvement in Britain towards democracy and the Chief Commissioner of Police in London reported there had been no trouble at the elections. However, employers were still bribing their workers and between 1867 and 1885 four towns were disenfranchised due to corrupt practices. Moreover, an opponent of the Act Lord John Russell, argued it would undermine the â€Å"legitimate influence of the aristocracy, over people who looked to them for leadership†. Many believed that it was you duty to tell people how you voted, it was considered† honest and British† and there was a belief that secrecy would lead to further corruption. The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act was introduced in 1883 and it meant that if there was any corruption in any election it would lead to a heavy fine or imprisonment. There was less intimidation; the new code of ethics had moved Britain forward towards democracy. S.Wood said that â€Å"elections certainly became more orderly†. Despite these steps towards democracy, plural voting still existed and MPS were still not paid. Even though the property qualification for MPs was abolished in 1857 meaning that ownership of land was no longer a prerequisite for becoming an MP but one issue that still had to be resolved was the payment of MPs. This made the Parliament Act of 1911 a â€Å"great achievement† according to Stephen J. Lee as MPs finally got a salary of  £400, meaning that anyone could stand as an MP, whether they are working, middle or upper class. However, in reality working class men could not afford to give up their day job to become a politician so very few working class men stood as candidates. In addition, the Act reduced the life of the government from seven years to five years .The House of Lords which Lloyd George described as â€Å"five hundred men, ordinary men chosen accidentally from among the unemployed,† no longer had power over bills to do with taxation or government spending and could only delay bills for up to two years. Despite the fact this made the elected house more accountable to the voters, Britain was still not fully democratic as the House of Lords still had some power despite being an unelected body. Although Britain had made strides towards democratic by 1928 there were still other factors that were undemocratic such as universities still having Seats in Parliament until 1949 and the franchise was not being given to 18 year olds until 1969.Moreover, elections in Britain use the First Past the Post System meaning the person with the most votes wins the election. However this could be seen as being unfair in that the percentage of seats the larger parties end up with in Parliament is always greater than the percentage of votes they have achieved in the election. For example, in the 2005 General Election although the Labour Party got 36.2% of the votes, they had 55% of the Seats in Parliament. For many years, smaller parties like the Liberals gave argued for a system of Proportional Representation which makes the proportion of seats a party has equal to the percentage of votes the party got in the election. First Past the Post was confirmed as the voting system for general elections in the United Kingdom in 1918 and this has not changed since. By 1928, Britain had become a more democratic country as all the features that would be expected in a democracy were in place such as universal suffrage, the secret ballot and better representation. There was a choice for voters of different backgrounds of three main political parties and working class candidates were able to stand for election as MPs were paid. Furthermore, access to information was greater than it had been in 1850. However, 18 year olds were not given the vote until 1969 and the electoral system is still an issue today as many people argue that Proportional Representation should be used in British elections.