Start Here: Elections and Electoral Reform

Who are the electorate?

In this topic examination boards require you to understand the purpose and function of elections, examine the strengths and weaknesses of electoral systems and analyse the voting behaviour of the electorate. Whilst the workings of the electoral systems are complex in how they work and the impact on results they may have, the way in which people vote and why is by far the most analysed and examined in the field of political science.

Before examining voting behaviour, you need to understand who the electorate are. Very simply, the electorate are those eligible to vote; they are over the age of 18 and are citizens of the UK listed on the electoral register. However, as the electorate has changed (historically since the Great Reform Act in 1832, and in terms of socio-economic trends) so too has their voting behaviour. The socio-economic and demographic composition of the electorate, especially areas such as gender, class, age, ethnicity and changes in occupations, is where you should start.

The Extension of the Franchise

Before the Great Reform Act (1832) only 5% of the population were eligible to vote and through successive pieces of legislation (Second Reform Act (1867), Franchise Act (1884), Representation of the People Act (1918), Equal Franchise Act (1928) and Representation of the People Act (1969)) the franchise has been extended to now include all men and women over the age of 18 (approximately 99% of the population over 18 are now eligible to vote).

Gender

Unfortunately there are still many gender stereotypes surrounding both men and women. However most of these have been broken down in recent decades since the 1970s. Many more women now work (38% of the workforce in 1971 to 47% in 2014), although there are still more women who work part time (5.85million) than men (2.1million), and less than half of mothers with dependent children work full time (43.6%).

Age

Britain, as many western countries, has an ageing population. This is partly due to a decrease in the birth rate since the early 20tth century and people, on average, are living longer. Women tend to live approximately 3 years longer than men, but both are expected to live until over 75. This will continue to have a huge impact on pensions, welfare, health and social care demands in the UK.

Ethnicity

The 2011 census data highlights the ethnic composition of the UK population (remember that not all of the population are eligible to vote, and some who are eligible do not vote so figures for the ‘electorate’ at any given election may differ (especially geographically where a population may be ethnically homogenous or ethnically diverse).

• 87% White British
• 7% Asian/British Asian (2.3% Indian, 1.9% Pakistani, 1.4% Other, 0.7% Bangladeshi, 0.7% Chinese)
• 3% Black/Black British
• 2% Mixed or multiple ethnicities
• 9% Other
• 1% Irish Traveller/Gypsy Traveller

Social class

Social classes are defined by a group who occupy a similar social position based mainly on occupations. The six classes used by sociologists are outlined below;

• A – professional/senior manager
• B – middle manager/executive
• C1 – junior managers/non-manual workers
• C2 – skilled manual workers
• D – semi-skilled/unskilled manual workers
• E – casual workers/those on benefits

Quite often sociologists group these together further and refer to AB, and DE.

North-South divide

In Great Britain, the term North–South divide refers to the perceived economic and cultural differences between Southern England and the rest of Great Britain (Northern England, Wales and Scotland). The divide cuts through the English Midlands. There are political divisions between the North and South along the lines of Labour and Conservative. For example, after the 2010 General election, the Conservatives held only one seat in Scotland and none in the major cities of Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hull, Sheffield and Liverpool, all of which were dominated by Labour.

In the 1980s political scientists focused on the prominent divide between a prosperous south and a declining north as many northern primary industries (mining, manufacturing etc) were in decline whereas the service and finance sectors were growing in the south. Sociologists have also drawn links between health conditions and life expectancy when the populations of north and south are compared. Income per capita in the North remains lower than the UK average, in addition to unemployment being higher than the UK average in the north. There are continued arguments as to how relevant this ‘divide’ is as the gap has been closed over recent decades with higher government spending on health and welfare in the north, however it remains a term in common use.

Changing occupations

Traditional industries and manufacturing have declined rapidly since the 1980s and this has meant a reduction in the numbers of workers in these industries, whereas employment in the service sector has doubled since 1955. More women have joined the workforce and there has been an increase in part time workers, and those who are self-employed.

Home ownership

The Right-To-Buy scheme allowed long term tenants of council houses the opportunity to buy their homes at a large discount, and after 1988 most council properties were transferred to housing associations or housing trusts. This resulted in a sharp increase in home ownership (49% in 1971 to 69% in 2002) with the proportion of people living in council rented properties decreasing from 31% to 14% in the same period. Recent increases in house prices and difficulties for first time buyers have also had an impact with 63% of homes having an owner-occupier.

In 2013/14, 19 per cent of households, or 4.4million, were renting privately, up from 18 per cent a year earlier. People aged between 25 and 34 are now more likely to be renting privately than buying their own home. The proportion of young people in this age group who are privately renting has more than doubled since 2003/04, with almost half – 48 per cent – of all households where people are aged 25 to 34 renting from private landlords in 2013/14, according to the data. Over the same 10 years, owner-occupation levels in this age group have fallen from 59 per cent to 36 per cent.