Politics Panther · Paper 1 · Democracy and Participation

The franchise · Overview

Who can vote in the UK, the live debates, and the cases that anchor each side.

1. Spec sections this topic covers

Topic on the spec1 · sourced from Edexcel A-Level Politics 9PL0

Key milestones in the widening of the franchise in relation to class, gender, ethnicity and age, including the 1832 Great Reform Act and the 1918, 1928 and 1969 Representation of the People Acts.
The work of the suffragists/suffragettes to extend the franchise.
The work of a current movement to extend the franchise.

Current UK franchise: 18+ British, qualifying Commonwealth and Irish citizens; not Lords, prisoners, or non-citizens (with limited Commonwealth exceptions).
Historical extension: 1832 (40-shilling freeholders), 1867 (urban working men), 1884 (rural), 1918 (women 30+), 1928 (women 21+), 1969 (18+).
Live debates: voting age 16, prisoner votes, non-citizen votes, compulsory voting, voter ID (2022 Elections Act).
Key cases and evidence: Hirst v UK (2005), Scotland 2014 referendum (75% 16-17 turnout), Austria 2007 (votes at 16), Australia (compulsory voting since 1924), 2024 GE (16,000 turned away under voter ID per Electoral Commission).
Quotes worth knowing: Rees-Mogg (2023) admission that voter ID was a "gerrymandering" attempt; Cameron (2010) "physically ill" line on prisoner votes.

Cuts across democracy and participation, electoral systems, rights and the constitution. A franchise extension question lets you draw on UK and comparative evidence.
Voter ID is the most contentious recent change: integrity vs inclusion is the core tension.
Franchise has never been set as a stand-alone 30-mark question on the spec, making it a high-probability topic.

Drawn from the Panther question bank. The Notes page in this pack covers the content needed to answer these.

Year	QID	Question
2024	P1-2024-Q1b	Using the source, evaluate the view that referendums since 1997 have not supported democracy but have been used for other political purposes.
2023	P1-2023-Q2a	Evaluate the view that referendums held in the UK since 1997 have brought more disadvantages than advantages.
2021	P1-2021-Q1a	Using the source, evaluate the view that opinion polls bring more advantages than disadvantages to elections and referendums.
2021	P1-2021-Q1b	Using the source, evaluate the view that in a democracy MPs are free to ignore referendum results and their own political party's manifesto.