The nature of British general elections has altered very markedly over the last century, but the law regarding how much candidates can spend on their constituency campaigns has hardly changed at all. In the 19th century, although many candidates stood on a party label there was virtually no party-focused campaigning; each candidate fought his own campaign on a local basis, with some reference to national issues but little call for the voters to ensure that a particular party was able to form a government.

At the beginning of that century, most candidates were seeking election from constituencies with relatively small numbers of registered voters – especially in the so-called ‘rotten boroughs’. With neither a secret ballot nor restrictions on the nature of the campaigning, the potential for corruption was large – and frequently realised, particularly through a practice known as ‘treating’ whereby votes were solicited via, for example, the provision of drink and food by the candidates. As the franchise was extended by the three Reform Acts passed during that century, and the related redistributions of constituencies eliminated most of those with very small electorates, the potential cost of treating increased – giving an advantage to wealthier candidates.

Secret ballots were introduced in the Ballot Act 1872, and regulation of candidates’ expenditure by the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Act 1883, whose provisions included limitations on the amount that could be spent on a campaign. (For general introductions to this legislation, see Pinto-Duschinsky, 1981, and Johnston, 1987.) A maximum amount was specified for each of eight types of constituency, as follows:

English, Scottish and Welsh borough seats:

English, Scottish and Welsh county seats:

Irish borough seats:

Irish county seats: