'The liberal crisis 1906-14' Challenges and Crisis Flashcards
What was the constitutional crisis of 1909-11?
Clash between the Conservative dominated House of Lords and Liberal dominated House of Commons. There was two stages of the crisis
- 1909-10 over the ‘Peoples Budget’
- 1910-11 over the Parliament Act
What was the Peoples Budget
Introduced by Lloyd George chancellor of the Exchequer in 1909.
- income tax on a sliding scale, ‘progressive taxation’
- Tax on cars according to horsepower
- Tax on petrol
- Inheritance tax
Tax on profits gained through selling land
What did the Conservatives claim about the 1909 Budget and what did the Liberals reply with
It was a ‘war Budget’ (against classes)
Liberals agreed it was a ‘War Budget’ (against poverty)
The first Constitutional Crisis 1909-10
The 1909 budget raised anger of the Conservatives who feared the ideas of progressive taxation which they saw as an attack on the rich.
In November 1909 in an unprecedented vote, the Lords ‘vetoed’ the Budget.
The convention that the Lord should not interfere with money Bills was not broken and the government was left with no legal authority to collect taxes. They therefore had no choice but to call a general election on the issue in January 1910.
General Election of January 1910.
Lloyd George’s slogan, ‘The Peers or the People’ summarised how the Liberals tried to fight this election; who should run the country, the elected MPs or the hereditary peers in the House of Lords.
Liberals won with a majority of two, thus had to rely on the Irish support to pass the budget.
The Irish Nationalists were willing to give this support in return for an attack on the House of Lords. They wanted the House of Lords to be weakened as they desired Home Rule for Ireland.
As the Commons were able to show a majority for the budget, endorsed by an election, the Lords agreed to pass the budget.
The second Constitutional crisis 1910-11
In 1910 the Liberals drew up a bill to curb the power of the House of Lords by taking away its power of veto.
The 1910 Parliament Bill proposed:
- The house of Lords to have no power to amend or reject those bills that the speaker of the Commons (an impartial referee) certified to be true money bills
- The House of Lords was no have no power to reject (or veto) other legislation, but could delay it for no longer than two years. This was known as a ‘suspensory veto’
- The maximum period between general elections was to be reduced from seven years to five years.
The bill would easily be passed in the Commons however any bill that was passed to curb the Lords power had to be passed in the House of Lords too.
Asquith’s solution was to ask King Edward VII (who had the power to create peers) to promise enough liberal peers to outvote the Conservative peers in the House of Lords.
Edward VII suddenly died In May 1910 and new king George V tried to get the Liberals and the Conservatives to agree without creating more peers.
A constitutional conference was held between June and November 1910. The Conservatives tried to insist that the Lords should have the right to veto any change in the constitution (which would enable them to keep blocking Home Rule for Ireland). On this issue the conference broke down.
Asquith was under strong Irish pressure t reject the Conservative’s proposal.
George V finally agreed that he would create more peers to pass the Parliament Bill, as long as the liberals won an election fought on that issue. This second general election was held in December 1910.
General Election of December 1910.
The result was similar to the previous general election however with the Liberals and Unionists tied on 272 seats.
Again the Liberals had to rely on a working majority with the support of Labour and the Irish Nationalists.
In May 1911 the Commons passed the Parliament Bill.
In August there was finally enough support in the House of Lords to pass it. By cooperating the Lords avoided having the House of Lords shaped by the newly created Liberal peers.
Impact of the Constitutional crisis
- The Lords could only delay legislation important to the Commons
- The liberals were able to move forward with their legislative programme of reform
- The crisis so divided the Conservatives that Balfour was forced to reign the leadership in November 1911. Andrew Bonar Law succeeded him as leader
- The Parliament Act helped make the British constitution more democratic. Never agin could the Lords permanently override the Commons, political power had shifted to the lower house.
What obstacles were getting in the way of franchise for women in 1906:
- Despite being a ‘party of principles’, Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister from 1905-1908, was half-hearted in his support for female suffrage. Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister from 1908 made no secret of his opposition to the cause.
- The political Parties were unclear as the impact of a female vote and which party would benefit; the fine balance between the two parties, especially after 1910, made many liberals hesitate in case the result disadvantaged the party.
- The social reforms of the Liberals Party were already taking up much parliamentary time and causing controversy and so there was reluctance to tackle another contentious issue.
- The issue of female suffrage could not easily be separated from the issue of males who still could not vote, which was contentious within the Conservative party who were opposed to widening the suffrage for men.
- There was still a prevalent belief that males and female operated in different spheres and had different roles in society; also that women were mentally and physically inferior.
- Not all women supported the idea of female suffrage.
Pressures for female emancipation.
Local suffrage societies, campaigning for change by constitutional means had been active since the 1860s.
- 1897, the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies
- 1903, Women’s Social and Political Union
The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies
(NUWSS)
Established in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett and believed in non-violent methods such as discussion, processions, petitions and public meetings to achieve their objectives.
By 1914 the NUWSS had 50,000 members and over 400 societies
Women’s Social and Political Union
(WSPU)
Established in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst who was frustrated by the lack of progress in achieving women’s suffrage.
Undertook a campaign of disruption, became increasingly violent as the Liberals failed to find parliamentary time to debate the question.
Between 1911 and 1914, Suffragette actions included arson and physical assault as well as hunger strikes when arrested and put in prison.
Who threw herself under the King’s horse and in what year
Emily Wilding Davison in 1913
What year was the ‘cat and Mouse Act’ and what did it do?
1913.
Before this act, imprisoned suffragettes went on hunger strike with the authorities responding by force-feeding them.
This Act allowed the government to release hunger strikers until they regained their strength and then re-arrest them.
BY 1914 what was the situation apparent for female suffrage
In preventing legislation and its treatment of the suffragettes, the government had not only failed to stop the militancy but also alienated both the militant and the moderate supporters of female suffrage.
The WSPU increased its militancy now targeting museums, churches and art galleries
The NUWSS which had been working with the Liberal Party now turned to the Labour Party as an ally in Parliament.
By 1914 there seemed little hope of achieving female suffrage.
