ABSTRACT

The nature of elections in Liverpool altered substantially over the nineteenth century. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that it became accurate to discount religion as a major influence on Liverpool elections: in the nineteenth century it was of paramount importance. The dominant political determinant of voting in Liverpool could be viewed as differing attitudes towards the Established Church. Because religious issues continued to dominate Liverpool politics well into the twentieth century, it is easier to see why class emerged so slowly and incompletely as an electoral cleavage. Even though Liverpool Corporation was innovative, government activity was marginal to most Liverpudlians’ lives. In electoral terms, the greatest phenomenon of Victorian Liverpool was the ability of the Conservatives to win well enough and often enough to stay in control locally and represent the city nationally.