Transcript Britain - 1906-51 - Fulford School : VLE

Britain - 1906-51
Revision Session 2
1906-1914
Britain in 1900
Britain faced great economic, social and
constitutional difficulties:1. The problem of poverty
2. Britain’s economy
3. The crisis in industrial relations
4. Britain’s role as an empire
5. The question of the franchise
6. The Position of the House of Lords
7. The Ulster Question
Either cut out your card sort or colour code to
review these issues.
The ‘Liberal Landslide’ 1906
Mistakes by the Conservative Party
a) The Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
b) ‘Chinese slavery’
c) The Taff Vale decision, 1901
d) Balfour’s Education Act, 1902
e) The Licensing Act, 1904
f) The Irish Land Act, 1902
g) Tariff Reform (imperial preference)
The ‘Liberal Landslide’1906
Developments in the Liberal Party
O A newly reunited party
O Issues that had divided them, e.g. Irish Home Rule, had
been put to one side.
O All Liberals united behind Free Trade
O Free Trade was a ‘bread and butter issue’ in the 1906
election.
O A ‘broad party’ not dominated by one issue (except Free
Trade) nor by any one group.
O Liberals were able to exploit Conservative mistakes.
O Irish Voters in Britain were more likely to vote Liberal
The ‘Liberal Landslide’ 1906
The Labour Party
O Too small to have a realistic chance of
getting into government.
O The young Labour Party calculated that its
best chance of gaining political influence
was by co-operating with the Liberals.
O One outcome of this was the Lib-Lab pact of
1903.
New Liberalism
O In the last part of the 19th Century the Liberal Party
O
O
O
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had faced a crisis of identity.
Gladstonian Liberalism, ‘Peace, Retrenchment,
Reform’
Traditional Liberalism championed the individual but
was reluctant to allow the government to interfere in
the social and economic liberties of the people.
New Liberalism was based on the radical ideas of
Joseph Chamberlain who left the party in frustration
with Gladstone.
The outstanding representative of this new force in
the party was David Lloyd George.
New Liberalism
O Lloyd George’s great ally in this period was
Winston Churchill.
O In 1906 Churchill gave a precise definition of the
practical need for New Liberalism:
“No view of society can be complete which does
not comprise within its scope both collective
organisation and individual incentive. The evergrowing complications of civilisation create for us
new services which have to be undertaken by the
State.”
New Liberalism
‘The sovereignty of social welfare’
O J.A.Hobson summed up the essential change in
attitude to say that New Liberalism had
accepted that social reform was now its
paramount policy. Personal liberty and freedom
of enterprise remained valid objectives, but the
rights of the individual must not be pursued at
the expense of the general social good. Equal
opportunity through social reform ought now to
be the goal of Liberal policies.
Liberal Social & Economic
Reforms
Date
Reform
1906
Trade Disputes Act (reversed Taff Vale)
1906
Education Act – Free School Meals
1907
Education Act – Medical examinations
190712
A set of measures improved conditions in prison,
created the probation service and ended
imprisonment for debt.
1908
Children’s Act – ‘The Children’s Charter’
1908
Old Age Pensions Act
1909
“The People’s Budget”
Liberal Social & Economic
Reforms
Date
Reform
1909
Trade Boards Act
1909
Labour Exchanges Act
1909
A Development Commission set up to organise the
funding of State Welfare.
1911
National Insurance Act
1911
Shops Act – established the legal right of shop
workers to a weekly half-day holiday.
O The First constitutional crisis: The People’s
Budget 1909-10
O General Election January 1910
Liberals 275 seats
Conservatives 273 seats
Irish Nationalists 82 seats
Labour Party 40 seats
Liberals were dependent on Irish Support to
pass the budget – which they were willing to
give in return for an attack on the Lords.
Liberal Constitutional and
Political Reforms
O The Second constitutional crisis: 1910-11
The Parliament Act of 1911.
O General Election 1910
O Liberals 272 seats
O Conservatives 272 seats
O Labour 42 seats
O Irish Nationalists 84 seats
Liberal Constitutional and
Political Reforms
O The Ulster Crisis - Political Reform and the Third Irish
Home Rule Bill 1912
O After the Dec 1910 general election, the Liberals
were dependent on the support of the 84 Irish
Nationalist MPs in the Commons in order to stay in
power.
O In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill began its progress
through parliament.
O The Conservatives had long opposed Home Rule and
supported the cause of the Ulster Unionists.
O In 1913 the Ulster Volunteer Force began to form to
resist the imposition of an all Irish parliament.
Liberal Constitutional and
Political Reforms
O The Ulster Crisis - Political Reform and the Third Irish
Home Rule Bill 1912
O In 1914 Larne Gun running – 30,000 rifles and 3
million rounds of ammunition were smuggled into
Larne for the UVF.
O ‘Curragh Mutiny’ – March 1914 – British officers
commanding British soldiers at the Curragh in
Ireland threatened to resign rather than fight against
this Ulster Unionist resistance.
O Irish Nationalists countered these developments by
forming a militia of their own – the Irish Volunteers.
O Civil war narrowly avoided by the First World War
which put Home Rule on hold.