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Why was there an increasing demand for parliamentary reform from 19 century
lot more things that stayed the same: There was still no secret ballot and bribery and corruption continued. Many boroughs with very small electorates survived. Most working class men were still not able to vote and no woman could vote. Members of Parliament were still unpaid, and therefore still tended to be wealthy landowners. The increase in the size of the electorate was small-from about 5% to 7-½% of the population. Rural areas still had a higher proportion of Members of Parliament than urban, industrial areas.
From the things that had and hadn’t changed it is clear that the working class did not gain from the reform because they were still not able to vote and if a member of the working class were to become a Member of Parliament they would not be paid therefore they would not be able to make a living. The middle classes had gained and were able to influence Parliament. By agreeing to limited reform the landowners were able to retain a strong influence on how the country was governed.