The+1867+Reform+Act

__The 1867 Reform Act__

Grosevenors Hodgkinsons ammendment added half a million voters to the franchise. The electorate was finally doubled in size as the final bill allowed 1 million more people to vote. Working class voters now held the majority in towns, rather than the middle class. Vote was extended to those without property within the working class in industrial towns. There was an urban household franchise, with no financial qualification. Rural communities however, remained firmly middle class however. Towns of less than 10,000 lost one of their 2 MP's. A few seats were distributed around the country.

It was referred to as 'a leap in the dark' at the time. The Act was passed by the conservatives; Disraeli originally proposed a much more modest version of the Act, but accepted amendments (from anyone but Gladstone) that made it far more radical than originally intended. It had a wide reaching effect on British politics and the whole democratic process in Britain.

__Immediate Result of the Act__ Parliament went into recess until 1868. Derby resigned as Prime MInister, and Disraeli reached 'the top of the greasy pole' when he became PM. The newly franchised working class did not vote for the Conservatives in the 1868 election however. Gladstone realised that new voters needed to be won over and gave speeches around the country, resulting in a large Liberal majority in the following election.