The war also links with the population increase. In 1865 there was 5 million more people than in 1832. These were mostly in the industrial towns. However, the growth from approximately 25 million people to 30 million people therefore had a big impact on the reforms, especially within the cotton market, as there are more people, there are more jobs needed and so the cotton industry is vital.
The population increase also links in with the factor of trade unions. This is because the more people needed to work, the more people joined. By the 1860s, trade unions were pressing for reform. At the beginning of the century trade unions were mostly made up of poor people, but in the 1850s, the middle class were starting to join unions called the New Model Unions, for example, ASE, Associated Society of Engineers. These were skilled workers earning more money, and so it was concerning for the government. Also linking to the population is that most workers lived in towns, few of them had the right to vote and large cities still had only one or two MPs – this means that they were largely un-represented.
On the other hand, many believe it was political forces that caused the reform in 1867, for instance - the radicals. Radicals pressurised the government from not only the outside but the inside to. John Bright was an MP of Birmingham who travelled across the country to find men who will stand up for their rights. It was not unusual for over 100,000 men to turn up to a demonstration. John Bright said in a speech, “Palaces, Baronial castles, great cause, stately mansions do not make up the nation, the nation in every country dwells in a cottage,” 1858. Bright put forward many convincing arguments to the government.
It could be suggested that this then led to Gillseppe Garibaldi. He was a hero of Italian unification. Italy had a revolution in 1861 led by Garibaldi which made all states of Italy into one. After his succession, he travelled to London where a reform league was created by people who admired him. He used this influence to create people that would take radical actions in order to change Britain. This also links with the actions of two politicians; Disraeli and Gladstone.
Gladstone was in favour of reform and also a Whig, wanted changes in 1866. He felt that working class deserved the right to vote, but the stereotypical view against him limited his reforms. At first he introduced moderate reforms; he made the £10 rate to vote to £7. He focussed on the towns rather than the countryside because there were more people there, but most of his ideas were rejected from Tories and his own party. His actions also link with the sudden change in Disraeli’s policies.
The Tories won power in 1866, so there is a change in government from Gladstone to Disraeli. Disraeli has a conservative, Laisse-faire government which decides not to continue with the reforms. But the consequence is that were riots, e.g. Hyde Park, this sparked fear in the government. Disraeli then sees the opportunity to give people the right to vote, which he believes will secure power of the Tories and also believes that Gladstone would do it if he hadn’t.
Perhaps it could be suggested that social and economic factors were the main cause for the reform in 1867. With hindsight, it is possible to see how these factors forced the government to change due to the impact in had on the majority of the nation. Many would have died of starvation due to the civil war, especially with the population increasing rapidly, and the cotton industry declining. This desperation was demonstrated in trade unions, as even the middle class started to join them. It is possible that without these factors that the government would not have had the politicians, such as Disraeli and Gladstone, implementing these reforms into the British legal system. People would not have been creating Radical groups and there would have been no need for Garibaldi to influence people. It is suggested that whomever was in power at the time, that they would have changed do to the fear of a revolution, and because the prime minister, Lord Palmerston, died in 1865, who was persistently hostile to any electoral reforms. It was therefore up to the new government to introduce these changes, hence the Reform Act of 1867.