Mike Haynes looks at the way that our ancestors from the seventeenth century onwards fought to get both men and women the right to vote. Yet despite this eventual victory, over the past 50 years, many of us have become increasingly alienated from politicians and suspicious of their motives, he notes. While drawing on national trends, Mike will also use examples from the fight for universal suffrage in South Staffordshire and past elections in this area.

Photo: Suffragette Emily Davison, who fought for the right of women to vote. She is pictured wearing her Holloway brooch and hunger strike medal, c. 1910–1912. In 1913 she famously died after being hit by King George V’s horse Anmer at the Epsom Derby.