THIS SCEPTRED ISLE



Why are British elections always held on Thursdays? UNTIL 1918, polling at General Elections took place over several days and at one time different constituencies could complete polling on different days, thereby - it was alleged - creating a bandwagon effect for a successful political party. The 1918 Representation of the People Act restricted polling to one day (except for Orkney and Shetland until 1929). Since 1918 a General Election has always been on a Thursday, except for 1918, 1922, 1924 and 1931. The reason for choosing Thursday, it is said, was as follows. On Fridays the voters were paid their wages and if they went for a drink in a public house they would be subject to pressure from the Conservative brewing interests, while on Sundays they would be subject to influence by Free Church ministers who were generally Liberal in persuasion. Therefore choose the day furthest from influence by either publicans or Free Church clergymen, namely Thursday. Although these influences are much less significant today, the trend towards Thursday becoming a universal polling day has continued, because Urban District Councils and Rural District Councils all polled on a Saturday until they were abolished under the 1972 Local Government Act. Their successor District Councils poll on a Thursday and the Parish Council polling day was changed from Saturday to Thursday at the same time. E. M. Syddique (Research and Information Department,) Electoral Reform Society, London SE1. BRITISH ELECTIONS aren't held only on Thursdays. General elections have been held on a Thursday only since 1935: before then, any weekday was used - or even a Saturday, as in 1918. By-elections, too, can be held on any day except a Sunday , although there have been only two since 1965 not held on a Thursday; Manchester Exchange in 1973 and Hamilton in 1978 (because the World Cup started on the Thursday), both on a Wednesday. Using Thursday is a convention, rather than a rule, so the reason for it is open to argument. I've always presumed it had something to do with Friday being pay-day, giving voters an incentive to go out and do their civic duty and get "rewarded" for it the next day. Of the 74 post-war by-elections not held on a Thursday, only two were held on a Friday, two on a Saturday and three on a Monday, compared to 29 on a Tuesday and 38 on a Wednesday. If pay-packets were conventionally delivered on a Thursday, Wednesday would doubtless be the convention for elections. L. Raphael, Kilmaurs, Strathclyde. Thursday used to be the most popular "early closing" day, so people had more time to get to the polls. Keith Mills, Alne, Yorks



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