Chapter 5: The UK Government, the Law and Your Role

The Development of British Democracy

ਆਖ਼ਰੀ ਜਾਂਚ: 15 July 2026

These are the testable facts for this section, written in our own words (the handbook text itself is Crown copyright — and reading facts twice beats re-reading prose anyway). Work top to bottom, then drill the section below.

What you need to know

Democracy means the whole adult population has a say in government — usually by electing representatives.
At the beginning of the 19th century Britain was NOT yet a democracy: only a small group of male property owners could vote.
The Reform Act of 1832 increased the electorate and abolished the old "rotten boroughs" (tiny constituencies controlled by one person), redistributing seats to growing towns and cities.
The Chartists (1830s–40s) campaigned for six reforms: a vote for every man; elections by secret ballot; electoral areas of equal size; the right of any man to stand as an MP (no property qualification); payment for MPs; annual elections.
The Chartist campaign was generally seen as a failure at the time, but by 1918 most of the Chartists' demands had been adopted (annual elections being the exception).
The Reform Act of 1867 gave the vote to more men (more urban working men), but property still mattered and women could not vote.
In 1918 women over 30 and men over 21 gained the right to vote.
In 1928 women gained the vote at 21 — equal voting rights with men — partly in recognition of women's contribution in WWI and the suffragette campaign.
In 1969 the voting age was lowered to 18 for men and women — the current voting age.

Make it stick

2 minutes of questions on this chapter beats 20 minutes of re-reading.

Practise this chapter