The+extent+and+importance+of+legislation+on+Parliamentary+reform

= = **__ Great Reform Act 1832 __** = =  Success : = = = =  Failure : = = = = = **__1867 Reform Act__** = __**Provisions**__
 * Redistributed seats – Released 143 seats from rotten bouroughs and disfunctional areas and gave them to urban up and coming areas.
 * Remodeled the franchise – men who owned £10 worth of property could vote and any male tenant who rented property at £50 per year could vote.
 * Polling was limited to 2 days.
 * Official record of voters would be kept.
 * Step in the right direction and opened the flood gates to more change.
 * Turning point in British politics.
 * Limited change.
 * Constituencies were tinkered with but not really changed.
 * System wasn’t really reformed.
 * Excluded the working classes.
 * Passed by Disraeli, arguably as a way to one-up Gladstone.
 * Started out moderate but became much more radical due to the amendments proposed.
 * Gave the vote to every male householder in a borough constituency
 * Male lodgers paying over £10 were enfranchised
 * This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men
 * Constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs
 * 45 seats redistributed; 15 to towns that had never had an MP, 25 to increased size counties, extra seats given to large towns, a seat for the University of London

**__Why Reform? __**
 * Death of Palmerstone - strong opponent of reform
 * Gladstone's conversion - 1864 converted to cause
 * Conservative's electoral position - no majority 1841-65, encouraged leadership to support reform
 * party political considerations - Derby & Disraeli saw it as an opportunity to split Liberals
 * Popular agitation - National reform union & reform league set up 1864-5, July 1866 100,000 union members at demo at Hyde Park
 * Developments abroad - Italian Unification & USA civil war, popular struggles of freedom


 * **1866 Reform Bill** || **1867 Reform Bill** ||
 * * New voters = 350,00-400,000 || * new voters = c.1 million ||
 * * Location of new voters = urban areas || * Majority of voters now workers (mostly in boroughs and cities) ||
 * * Property qualification lowered from £10 to £7 || * Property qualification lowered from £10 to £5 rates of £10 rented. ||
 * * Vote = lodgers £10 p.a. || * 53 seats redistributed ||
 * * County qualification for tenants from £50 to £14 || * Towns = Working Class ||
 * * County vote to men who had £50 in savings || * Rural constituencies = Middle Class ||


 * Increased the electorate to almost 2.5 million.

The most important change was the granting of the vote to occupiers in the boroughs and as a result the electorate in some of the newer towns in England and Scotland increased dramatically

However, the act did not alter the balance of political power in Britain. The middle classes still dominated the electorate, both in the towns and in the boroughs.