How far was Britain a democracy by 1918 - 1370 Words

How far was Britain a democracy by 1918? At the beginning of the time period, 1850, Britain was not democratic. There was not a lot of choice concerning the political parties, there were only two parties: The Liberals and the Conservatives. Woman did not have any right to vote and were considered second class citizens. In England and Wales only one million and five men could vote and some men could vote twice. The distribution of seats did not take into account the migration of Britain. The House of Lords (HOL) were aristocracy that were their because of their ancestry. MP’s were unpaid and had to own property so the poorer classes could not be MP’s and therefore opinions not heard. A democracy is one which has universal suffrage, equal†¦show more content†¦This changed in the introduction of secret balloting in 1872 which allowed voters to vote in secret polling booths rather than public stands which gave the voters the anonymity that allows them to vote for who they want to which, in turn, made Brit ain more democratic than before but obviously bribery and corruption was still in existence. The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act of 1883 improved this situation more by limiting how much candidates could spend during election time, banning practices such as buying food or drink for voters and candidates had to account for all election expenses therefore flagging up if they were bribing. The law also stated how many carriages could be used to carry voters to the polls! By 1918 Britain was more democratic than it had been but it was still far from being totally democratic as the franchise favoured a MP that would make donations to their local teams, hospitals etc. MP’s were unpaid for most of the nineteenth century and had to own land, although the property qualification ended in the 1850’s but only wealthy upper class men could be MP’s. The working class could not afford to give up their job to be a politician and that meant that their views and needs were poorly represented compared to the ones of the wealthy. This is clearly not democratic and wasn’t changed until 1911 when MP’s began to be paid allowing the right to become and MP to everyoneShow MoreRelatedThe Bolshevik Consolidation of Power 1918-21 Essay2585 Words   |  11 PagesBolshevik Consolidation of Power 1918-21 The Bolsheviks under Lenin, when they came into power in October 1917, faced immense problems in trying to consolidate their hold over the ex-tsarist empire. 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