Starter... You have a couple of minutes to consider these questions:  Who can vote today?  Who is excluded?  Should 16/17 year olds have the vote? Give reasons to support your opnions.

Learning Objectives Know the main terms of the Representation of the People Act 1918 Understand who gained under the Act and why. The impact that it had on the Liberal Party Be able to transfer textual information into a diagram format using key words only

Learning Outcomes All will understand the main terms of the Representation of the People Act Most will be able to suggest the reasons behind the passing of the Act Some will be able to identify significant limitations in the scope of the legislation and deploy historians’ views to judge the impact of the Act on the Liberal Party

Task You will be given the main terms of the Representation of the People Act, 1918 You will have to transfer this information onto an A3 poster You can only have 10 words but unlimited numbers, pictures, abbreviations, colour, symbols etc. The title is free! (25 mins)

The Representation of the People Act, 1918 Passed in Feb 1918 Became law in June 1918 The clause in the Bill relating to women’s voting rights was overwhelmingly accepted by the Commons on a free vote Asquith ‘Some years ago I ventured to use the expression, “Let the women work out their own salvation.” Well Sir, they have worked it out during this war.’

Main terms of the Act All males over the age of 21 were granted the vote The vote was extended to women over 30 Servicemen over the age of 19 were entitled to vote in the next election Candidates were to deposit £150 in cash, which would be forfeit if they did not gain 1/8 of the total votes cast Constituencies were to be made approx equal in number of voters ( around 70,000) The number of seats in the Commons was increased from 670 to 707 to accommodate the enlarged electorate All voting was to take place on a designated single day Conscientious objectors had their right to vote suspended for 5 years after the war

Rees (pgs ) Use the extract from Rees to add the following to your poster, or on the back if you prefer What were its limitations? What was the impact of the Act on the Liberal Party? Include historians’ opinions (15 mins)

Plenary On your post-it note 1 – not a disaster at all 10 – a huge disaster Decide what number to judge “how far was the Act a disaster for the Liberal Party”? Be prepared to explain your choice