One of the first pledges made by Earl Grey's Whig government when they came into power in November 1830 was that they would implement electoral reform. They proposed a redistribution of seats, that would disenfranchise the smallest (so-called 'rotten') boroughs, and give greater representation to those new industrial towns that were otherwise underepresented. It would also lower the requirement for the franchise from the historical '40-shilling-freeholder' to an annual worth of £10, thus increasing the size of the electorate. Although this bill was passed in the House of Commons by one vote, it then ground to a halt. The government called another election, which was fought primarily over this issue of reform. It returned an …

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Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Both Houses pass Third Reform Bill". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4708, accessed 23 November 2024.]