Britain 6- Economic issues Flashcards
What were the economic demands for Britain during the war and what affect did this have?
Massive increase in production of weapons of war, supply war materials to allies, transport, increase and protect the provision of food, ensure adequate supplies of fuel.
Impact= pushed up prices and created shortages of materials and workers
What did DLG persuade parliament to do to grant more state powers over industry?
Extend the DORA act and campaigned for a ministry of munitions
What did the ministry of munitions do?
Set up a central purchasing system for buying essential war materials, organised British science to help with the war effort and encouraged the development and production of new weapons like tanks and encouraged factories to convert from peacetime to war time production (also built its own national factories
How many factories did the ministry of munitions manage and supervise?
Managed 250 state factories, supervised another 20,000
How many workers did the ministry of munitions control?
Almost 4 million
What did govt spending increase from and to from 1913 to 1918 as a result of the war?
1913- £200 million
1918- £2600 million
What was greatly extended in 1915 to help pay for the war?
Income tax
By 1918, how much had food prices increased?
Doubled
What improvements did workers experience during the war?
More work, many unskilled workers now had bargaining power so earned more, overtime could be done to increase earnings, fall in poor relief applications and lower working class mortality show better living standards
Why were the middle and upper classes more disadvantaged from the war?
Higher income tax and taxes on land. Many landed estates had to be sold off. 25% of land holdings sold off between 1917 and 1921
In what two ways did war worsen the housing situation?
All resources focused on war so house building and major repairs halted
With demand for munition workers, people came into already crowded industrial towns and increased demand caused landlords to have to increase rent
What did the first housing and town planning act do and what year?
Encouraged local govts to clear slums and construct low-rent homes for the working class, 1919
Why was the housing act a success and a failure?
200,000 houses built by 1922 but cost excessive. Addison ended up paying for houses at a rate of £910 instead of try building cost of £385 and was sacked following an outcry about his use of public money
When was the economic recession and what did it mean?
1921, govt had to consider a policy of entrenchment
What did the ‘Geddes Axe’ mean?
Committee recommended cuts of £86 million reduced to £64 million which mean housing subsidies were withdrawn
What was the treasury agreement and when?
Specified that unions involved in vital war work would not strike, 1914
When was the Munitions of war act and what did it do?
1915, banned strikes for munitions workers
How many strikes were there across Britain in 1917?
48
How many members did trade unions have by 1921?
Doubled its membership to 8 million members
In 1921, how many days were lost to strike action?
Almost 86 million
How did the war impact steel?
Britain’s capacity to produce steel exapanded by 50% but by 1921, clear that there had been over investment and no markets could absorb this quantity
How did the war affect ship building?
Britain had built 2 million tons of shipping during war to cope with losses of German U-boats but after 1918, only needed to produce 0.5 million tons a year
How did the war affect the textiles industry?
Overseas markets had been lost during the war to the Japanese, India and the USA
what was the Sankey commission and what year?
1919- set up to investigate wages and conditions in the mines
what did the Sankey commission recommend and why was it not passed?
made recomendations for wage rises and a shorter working day and nationalisations however the govt refused to do this because the conservatives felt it was too radical and sounded too much like socialism
what did the govt form to increase the growth of their own food as merchant ships were being lost to German u-boats?
A department of food production set up to increase the amount of homegrown foodstuffs
how did the govt attempt to increase agricultural production during the war?
govt subsidised farmers to pllough wastelands, allocated scarce fertilisers, supplied prisoners of war to work and encouraged women to volunteer for farmwork
how did unions start to oppose the govt again post-war?
1919- police strike in Liverpool
unions supported the ‘hands of Russia’ campaign where dockers refused to load a ship with weapons to be used against the Bolsheviks during the Russian civil war
