Parliamentary Reform Act 1867

• The Parliamentary Reform Act 1867 extended the voting qualification to include householders, which doubled the electorate from 1 million to 2 million men. The 'respectable' working class could now vote and in several industrial boroughs, the majority of the electorate was working class.
• The Act meant there was increased pressure from radicals to democratise the election of guardians of the poor. Since 1834, the Poor Law franchise had enabled plural voting (greater amount and value of land = more votes), which had a large impact in rural parishes. It took a small step towards democratisation in 1868 when the PLB was empowered to combine small parishes for electing guardians. However, the PLB moved slowly and in 10 years they had only combined 580 small parishes out of 6111 with a population fewer than 300. Nevertheless, the was an increasing pressure for change.
• Increasing the franchise to include the working class meant that government became increasingly aware of the welfare of people. The new legislation that affected things such as housing was dependent upon local authorities for enforcement. Therefore, it no longer made any administrative sense to keep the PLB. In 1971, the PLB was replaced with the Local Government Board. However, the government still retained some control, as the president of the LGB was a cabinet minister.