The Governance of Britain

In my investigations for my family history, I have learned much about the social history of Britain over the last three hundred years. Sometimes it is surprising how little actually changes. In the 19th century, as now, we had government by the rich. The system then was totally undemocratic, of course, and before 1832 there were rotten boroughs that sent members to parliament, even though they had next to no electorate. Old Sarum in Wiltshire had 11 men with the vote and elected two MPs. Even after 1832, MPs were elected by a small number of wealthy adult males. In this context a man could have the vote if he owned property worth £10.00 per year. At a time when all of the working classes earned next to nothing and owned nothing at all, few actually had a vote. Total electorate was about 650,000 out of a population of 11 million. Constituencies were of very unequal size; 35 had less than 300 electors, while Liverpool had 11,000. Since so few people had a say in government, the unrepresented masses could only make their opinions known by rioting in the streets. Constantly, the governing classes were careful to maintain a large standing army to quell riots. There was a constant fear of revolution. It was never a serious possibility. The masses wanted representation not revolution and even when they had a powerful case they were ready to negotiate and compromise.

In 2009, of course, the system allows all adults over the age of 18 to vote. But never have those in parliament been so remote and out of touch with the people they represent. Over recent general elections there has been a steady decline in voter turn out from 84% in 1950 to 60% in 2005 and a dramatic increase seems an unlikely prospect. With the recent furore about MPs expenses, parliament and our representatives are held in very low esteem. Next month we will be asked to vote in an election for members of the European Parliament. We have little interest in Europe anyway and frequently have no idea who is our local MEP, so there is little doubt that this election will be used to indicate our disatisfaction with the main parties in Westminster and there will be massive abstentions and/or big votes for minority parties. Our democracy is at risk and without clean-up action renewed rioting in the streets is a serious possibility.