"The Purpose of the Great Reform Act, and its effect was to preserve the political power of the Landed Gentry".

This Whig party had a reputation for reform, and its principles were in many ways favourable to it. However, the issue was never at the top of their agenda before the late 1820's, indicating that the political climate significantly strengthened their desire to reform. Thus is can be seen that the Whig motive for reform was partly one of the constitutional principle, and partly one of political opportunism. However, a separate factor may have influenced the Whigs more strongly, namely that of necessity. Many of the conditions needed for revolution were present in the early 1830's: unemployment; unrest in agricultural and industrial sectors; a well-organised radical movement, whose opinions were expressed through mass meetings, such as those held in Birmingham in October 1831 and May 1832. Violence was not uncommon. Rioting occurred at demonstrations in London, the general election was accompanied by unrest in Scotland, and after the peers rejected the second bill, there were serious outbreaks of violence at Derby, Nottingham, and Bristol. Even hard-line Tories, the Ultras, accepted that reform was needed. Thus it can be argued that the Whigs acted through necessity rather than opportunism or principle, in an attempt to avert revolution. However, while this necessity may have added to the Whig desire for reform, most of the violence occurred after the Whigs had taken up the cause. We may conclude that the Whig motive for the Great Reform Act was drawn from its philosophy, of non-oppression, and representation according to property, by the political opportunities that policy created, and was strengthened further by the clear public for reform and the threat of revolution. The Great Reform Act had the effect to strengthen the position of the middle class and weaken the position of the working class. It did this because it split the alliance between the middle and working classes; this meant that the working class was in a weakened position because they no longer had the support and backing of the middle class.

The Great Reform Act had little impact on the middle class because although it meant that more of the middle class could become MPs, most of them could not afford it. Parliament sat for most of the year so it was considered a full time job and with no salary, this meant that most middle class gentlemen considered local politics to be more rewarding. Therefore the composition of Parliament remained mostly unchanged from before 1832. The aristocracy carried on exerting a lot of influence on events at Westminster. This shows that the bill didn't really change the Parliament worked, the rich land owning class still ruled Westminster.

James Lisle