british history chapter 8

• New Liberalism


  A more humanitarian approach, with more state assistance to tackle poverty
• New Liberals


  • Wanted more government spending: contributory payments for benefits, redistribution of income by taxing rich, taxing land
  • Didn't want to alienate landowning liberals
• New Liberal policies


  • Tax on incremental value in 1909 budget, unearned income
  • Booth and Rowntree reports 1890s and early 1900s
• New Liberals


  Saw poverty as caused by external factors, not individual failings
• New Liberalism was an antidote to the spread of socialism
• Henry Campbell Bannerman


  • Joined together divided liberals
  • Essentially a Gladstonian liberal
• Bannerman's new cabinet


  • Talented, including Asquith, Lloyd George and Labour MP John Burns
• Tackling poverty would be politically expedient for liberals
• Asquith


  • Appointed Liberal party leader in 1908, with more emphasis on the need for social reform
• Lloyd George


  As chancellor, it was unclear if he was a new liberal or not
• The 1906 general election was a landslide victory for the Liberals, winning 400 seats, with Labour winning 29
• Liberal social reforms 1906-1914

  • Far reaching
  • Some still committed to laissez faire, Gladstonian
• Bill introduction


  Could be introduced by either chamber, only needed to pass three readings
• Lords' powers


  • Couldn't vote on monetary bills
  • Had power to veto bills after passed in Commons
• Balfour returned through by-election in 1906, reached agreement with leader of the lords to veto any liberal legislation
• 1909 Budget rejection


  1. Rejected by the Lords

  2. Liberals called election
• Liberals won the 1909 election but with a very reduced majority
• 1909 People's Budget


  Wanted to finance social reforms through direct taxation
• Parliament Act 1911


  1. Asquith declared Lords' unconstitutional and called election

  2. Liberal victory was narrow, 274 seats over Conservatives 272

  3. Balance of power with Irish nationalists held 82, Labour 40

  4. Proposed to deny lords power to amend or veto a money bill, minimum delay of 2 years, elections every 5 years instead of 7

  5. Irish nationalist support

  6. Lords passed the budget but not parliament bill

  7. Asquith revealed a threat that he made with King George V to create enough Liberal peers to swamp Conservative peers in Lords if they reject act
• The 1906 election gave Labour 29 MPs, strengthening their position through the Lib-Lab pact of 1903
• Labour looked to Liberals to address key concerns over working conditions, unemployment and reversal of the Taff Vale decision
• The Liberals passed the Trades Disputes Act 1906, reversing the Taff Vale decisions
• The raft of social reforms from 1906-1914 by Liberals were welcomed by Labour, though criticised for not going far enough
• By 1908, the number of workers belonging to unions who supported the LRC had risen from 350k in 1900 to 1m
• The Liberals introduced payment for MPs of £400 per year in 1911, allowing working class men to stand for Parliament
• By the end of 1910, there were 42 Labour MPs, but they came bottom of the poll in every by-election between 1910 and 1914 and lost 4 seats
• The Osborne judgement in 1909 made it illegal for unions to use member's subscriptions for parties
• Labour still depended on liberal support to challenge the Osborne judgement