Arguably the three most important Acts passed by Gladstone were the three political Acts, which aimed to expand the franchise and increase the electorate. The Corrupt Illegal Practices Act passed in 1883 benefited the working class because it laid down rigid rules for the conduct of parliamentary elections including a strict limit on expenses by candidates and heavy penalties for bribery and intimidation of voters. This gave the working class voters much more freedom to choose whichever party they wished and due to better education, working class citizens would realise the importance of who controlled the country, thus adding pressure on the political parties to appeal to the working class thus fulfil their demands.
The increase in franchise enabled the working class voters to have more of a say in which political party they wished to vote for, once again increasing pressure on the political system. ‘Governments had to rely on tighter party discipline thus acquired more grip on the procedure of the House of Commons and increasingly being able to control the content and progress of legislation.’-E. J. Feuchtwanger. In 1884, the Representative of the People’s Act was passed, which increased the vote by approximately 2.6 million voters. Short term effects of this, was that it was becoming more and more evident that the working class began to have more of a say in politics, as the electorate increased by 2.6 million. This put pressures on the political parties to appeal to the working class voters, thus achieve the aims. However the long term effect was more important and effective. Due to such a vast increase in the electorate and reduction of limitation on who could and couldn’t vote, this Act built a strong base on the establishment of a democratic country, which we live in today. This political legislation was significant as governments were able to pass social legislation thus fulfilling demands of the working class and all other citizens in England. For example during Gladstone’s first ministry between 1868-1874 (directly after the 1867 Reform Act) Gladstone passed several social Acts to improve education-Public Schools Act 1868, Trade Union Acts and also the expansion of the franchise-Ballot Act 1872 and the Corrupt Illegal Practices Act 1883. As H. J. Hanham stated, ‘the whole system of election had to be created afresh…the parties had to create new candidates, to create new divisional association and divisional office…and generally begin things anew. The political legislation passed by Gladstone, in his second ministry between 1880-1885, was the basis for democracy and equality, with which we are affected by, today. This was because he passed his three most important Acts (as mentioned previously). The Representation of the People Act, passed in 1884, was arguably the most effective as the electorate increased from 3.1 million in 1883 to 5.7million in 1885. As one historian puts it, ‘about 60% of the adult population gained the vote, however the remaining 40% remained without the vote until 1918.’ This shows that there was still work to do on increasing the franchise, however politics now had a big influence on working class lives. Their vote counted towards the political party who would stand up for their rights and demands.
Manchester, April 1872, ‘the first consideration of a minister should be the health of the people. Social legislation, such as that of the Artisans Dwelling’s Act passed in 1875, benefited the working class considering the fact that living conditions were very poor. There was a lack of sanitation; slums were tightly close together, thus allowing disease to pass easily through slums. There was no hygiene, and once again due to lack of education, the working class citizens did not know the meaning of the effects of unhygienic living conditions as a cause of disease and high death rates. The short term benefits of the Artisans Dwelling’s Act was that 10 out of 87 English and Welsh towns began to take action under the Act, however it was still a very small number in comparison to the amount of towns that were given the opportunity to take any action under the Act. Thus in the long term this built a basis for the erosion of slums, however there was till a long way to go before this Act would have complete full impact on the living conditions of the working class. Due to the fact that by 1875, the Representation of the People Act (1884), had not been passed, the working class still did not have their full potential say on the government which was running the country, thus towns were not obliged to improve living conditions, however as E. J. Feuchtwanger stated, ‘the 1884 parliamentary reform was a milestone, providing the key to other reforms…with a sophisticated governing class responding with wisdom and progress’, thus political legislation in the long term benefited the development of social legislation for the future, as slums were gradually cleared, and health was first in the agenda for many Prime Ministers, just as Disraeli stated in his speech to.’
Further, Public health reform Acts (social legislation) passed in 1875, by Disraeli, also benefited the working class as it established a new system of powers and checks on sewage and draining, public lavatories and cellar dwellings.
‘Death rates decreased from 35 per thousand during the 1870’s, to below 25 per thousand by 1914. This shows that the short term benefits may not have been as evident as the death rate fell gradually, however in the long term, due to education, and increase in the franchise, people were more aware of their health as results show a decrease in the death rates, and the government were therefore obliged to develop the Public reform Act and social legislation, thus increasing support for their own political party, and at the same time, improving the health of the suffering working class.
In addition to improving education, living conditions, and public reform, the working class wanted a reduction in their working hours. In Disraeli’s first ministry, he passed the factory Act in 1874, which reduced the number of working hours from 16 hours to 10 hours. However it could be argued that Disraeli’s legislation was permissive, as originally, the working class demanded a 9hour working day rather than 10 hours. Also for Public reform, despite Disraeli mentioned in Manchester Speech, April 1872, that ‘his first consideration of a minister should be the health of the people’, he contradicted his aim, because in 1875, it was due to George Sclater-Booth that the Public reform Act was passed. This shows that Disraeli my have only stated that he wanted to improve the living conditions of the working class, in order to gain more votes. The negative effect of the Public health reform Act, however, was that it failed to offer a definition of pollution or ways of punishing polluters once these were defined. Death rates had decreased from 35,000 during the 1870’s, however they were still high.
In conclusion, political reform lead to social change. Political legislation had an effective long term effect on the development of political control in England, was that governments could rely on tighter party discipline and acquired more grip on the procedure of the House of Commons. They were thus increasingly able to control the content and progress of legislation and the balance between executive and legislature shifted in favour of the former. As E. J. Feuchtwanger stated, ‘these developments met up with and were complementary to the rapid expansion of Sate activity and of bureaucracy, a process that had been going on throughout the nineteenth century…the demand for legislation went up by leaps ad bounds and governments were progressively more able to meet it.’ Thus political legislation set the basis for the development of social legislation, however it could be argued that education also played a large role in the demand for an increase in the franchise, as the working class became more aware of politics in England, thus became more involved in voting and having a say on which party would represent the country. This in turn placed more demand for the political parties to appeal to the working class and fulfil their demands. As E. J. Feuchtwanger stated, ‘the working class became more important as determinants of political affiliation.’
