1906-1914 Challenges and Crisis

Question 1

The People’s Budget

Answer 1

• Supertax of 10%
• Opposed by Tory fears of progressive taxation
• Designed to help pay for social reform

Question 2

The House of Lord’s Involvement

Answer 2

The Lords vetoed the bill, the convention the Lords should not be involved in any monetary bill was broken

Liberals had no legal authority to collect the tax

Question 3

January 1910 election - What happened

Answer 3

‘The Peers vs the People’

• Lib won narrow majority
• Cons suggested tariffs and it was the House of Lords job to prevent sweeping change
• Lords passed the bill

Question 4

Why were the Irish Nationalists in support

Answer 4

With a majority of 2, the Libs relied on the IN to provide a secure budget.
The IN were willing to give this in return of an attack on the House of Lord’s power, to they could achieve Home Rule

Question 5

The 1910 Parliament Bill

Answer 5

• House of Lords was to have n power to amend or reject monetary bills
• The Lords could not veto but only delay (by 2 years)
• General elections were changed from 7-5 years

Question 6

How did the bill get passed

Answer 6

George V agreed to create new peers to pass the Parliamentary bill as long as they won the December election over the issue

Question 7

Impact of the Bill

Answer 7

• Liberals could move forward with reform
• The crisis divided the Cons.
• British constitution was more democratic
• The Liberals needed Irish Support

Question 8

Seats of Liberals and Conservatives in December 1910 Election

Answer 8

Cons - 272

Lib - 272

Question 9

Issues preventing Female Emancipation

Answer 9

• Liberals support
• The female vote
• Social Reforms
• Male suffrage
• Societal attitudes

Question 10

Societal Attitudes to Female suffrage

Answer 10

• Attitudes towards women in the household remained fixed
• Not all women supported the idea of female suffrage
• Women were seen as mentally and physically inferior to men

Question 11

Male Suffrage by 1906

Answer 11

• All male householders could vote, leaving 40% of working men without a vote
• An issue still contentious within the Conservative party

Question 12

Social Reforms

Answer 12

-Social reforms were the bulk of the Liberal campaign, therefore there was reluctance in absolving themselves in another contentious issue

Question 13

Liberal Support

Answer 13

• Asquith was fully opposed

- Despite being a ‘party of principal’, Campbell-Bannerman from 1905-1908 was half-hearted in support

Question 14

The female vote

Answer 14

-The Liberals did not know how the female vote would impact either party. Especially after the 1910 election, the Liberals were hesitant

Question 15

Pressures for female emancipation

Answer 15

• National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), by 1914 had 500,000 members
• WSPU - disruptive campaigns and violence

Question 16

The Cat and Mouse Act 1913

Answer 16

• When imprisoned suffragettes refused to eat in prison, the authorities force fed them, by putting metal clamps and feeding tubes in their mouths
• In response to public outcry, authorities were allowed to release hunger strikers until they regained strength then re-arrest them

Question 17

Female Emancipation by 1914

Answer 17

• Little hope the issue would be resolved

- The war would interrupt the movements as women had to play their part