Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928

Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928
Long titleAn Act to assimilate the franchises for men and women in respect of parliamentary and local government elections; and for purposes consequential thereon.
Citation18 & 19 Geo. 5 c. 12
Territorial extent United Kingdom
Dates
Royal assent2 July 1928
CommencementNo
Other legislation
Repealed byRepresentation of the People Act 1948
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928[1] was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This act expanded on the Representation of the People Act 1918 which had given some women the vote in Parliamentary elections for the first time after World War I. It is sometimes referred to as the Fifth Reform Act.[2][3]

The 1928 Act widened suffrage by giving women electoral equality with men. It gave the vote to all women over 21 years old, regardless of property ownership. Prior to this act only women over 30 who met minimum property qualifications could vote.

  1. ^ Hansard, House of Commons, fifth edition, vol 219, col 1035
  2. ^ Albjerg, Victor Lincoln; Albjerg, Esther Marguerite Hall; Albjerg, Marguerite Hall (1951). Europe from 1914 to the Present. McGraw-Hill. p. 257.
  3. ^ Cole, G. D. H. (7 December 2018). British Working Class Politics, 1832-1914. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-82018-2.