Britain- Lloyd-George's coalition social policies

Question 1

Why did Lloyd-George implament these reforms?

Answer 1

1. Great desire to continue pre-war reforms
2. Large scale post-war disturbances meant that concessions had to be made to the working class
3. Immediate post-war boom meant the government believed these reforms could be afforded
4. Need to make transition from war to peace (e.g. keep wartime control over rents and wages)

Question 2

What were the social reforms implamented between 1918 and 1922?

Answer 2

• 1918 Maternity and Child Welfare Act
• 1919 Old Age Pensions Act
• 1919 Housing Act -aimed to build 70,000 council houses per year- 213,000 homes were built leaving the shortage at 287,000 homes
• 1919 Coal Miners’ Act- guaranteed a 7 hour day for miners
• 1920 Agriculture Act- fixed wages for farm workers and gauranteed agricultural prices
• 1920 Unemployment Act
• 1921 Unemployment Insurance
• 1921 Unemployed Dependants’ Act

Question 3

What reform affected the miners and what did it do?

Answer 3

1919 Coal Miners’ Act- guaranteed a 7 hour day for miners

Question 4

What reform tried to improve the housing in Britain? (What was the post-war defecit of homes?)

Answer 4

Half a million homes needed to be built
1919 Housing Act -aimed to build 70,000 council houses per year- 213,000 homes were built leaving the shortage at 287,000 homes

Question 5

What were some examples of the post war economic boom?

Answer 5

• jobs in heavy industry
• 17,000 small farms were established at the end of WW1
• lots of small businesses set up

Question 7

Statistics to show the slump in the post-war economy after the boom

Answer 7

End of 1920- 700,000 men unemployed
June 1921- over 2 million
End of 1921- 1.9 million
Didn’t fall below one million until WW2

Question 7

Why did government expenditure have to be cut?

Answer 7

1. Falling trade
2. Falling government income
3. Heavy debts

Question 8

What report did DLG do about government expenditure after the post-war economic boom? What did it reccomend? What did the government do?

Answer 8

Geddes Axe- Published in Feb 1922
Reccomended £87 million in cuts
Government aimed to cut £52 million (10% of government spending)

Question 9

What happened as a result of the Geddes Axe?

Answer 9

Geddes Axe- Feb 1922

• Housing subsidies were ended
• Councils that wanted to end workhouse or the old local poor rates were up for prosecution
• Controlled wages for farmworkers were ended
• Limits on miners’ working hours were ended

Question 10

Link cuts from the Geddes Axe to DLG’s earlier reforms

Answer 10

Geddes Axe- Feb 1922

• 1919 Housing Act -aimed to build 70,000 council houses per year- 213,000 homes were built leaving the shortage at 287,000 homes
  Housing subsidies ended
• 1919 Coal Miners’ Act- guaranteed a 7 hour day for miners
  Ended
• 1920 Agriculture Act- fixed wages for farm workers and gauranteed agricultural prices
  Controlled wages for farm workers ended

Question 11

When were the mines and railways denationalised?

Answer 11

1920

Question 12

How did the coalition tackle protecting British industry?

Answer 12

Safeguarding of industries act 1921- imposed 33% duty on some imports, but not a general tariff and heavily taxed German imports

Question 13

What were the economic problems in 1922?

Answer 13

• Geddes Act and cuts had restricted house-building and there was still a large shortage of homes
• Work Houses and Poor Law had not been replaced by a more modern welfare system
• Lifting of wartime controls had damaged the railway industry with under-investment and a lack of development since wartime
• Coal mines were privatised but falling prices meant wage cuts and longer hours for workers
• High unemployment with apparently no means to deal with its causes or its effects
• Large industrial unrest (85,000 days lost through strikes in 1921) even though unemployment reduced the number of strikes

Question 14

Example of industrial unrest between 1918 and 1926

Answer 14

85,000 days lost through strikes in 1921
Note that huge unemployment meant that there were less people working who could actuall strike

Question 15

How successful were DLG’s post-war policies?

Answer 15

Success:

• demilitarisation of 4 million men
• no revoltion unlike Russia, Germany or Italy
• public content with the reduction of government control

Failure:

• many reforms had to be abandonned due to the economic problems
• rising unemployment
• growing resentment that war hadn’t led to a better Britain