the rise of labour - most important reason for the introduction of liberal social welfare reforms 1906-1914

Question 1

KU - when was the labour party formed?
what was the general aim of the labour party?

Answer 1

the labour party formed in 1900 and was created so that working class voters who gained the vote from the second and third reform act, 1867 and 1884, would feel represented.

Question 2

KU - what did the labour party have that made them a threat?
what was Lloyd Georges responce?

Answer 2

labour only had loyaltys to the working clas voter whereas the liberals were still trying to ensure they recieved the middle and upper class vote aswell.
Lloyd george made it clear that unless the liberals comited themselves to the introduction of reform then labour would challenge them and in a speech he stated if the liberals failed to remove slums and widespread poverty within Britain ‘a real cry would arise for a new political party’

Question 3

A - therefor fear of the rissing labour party could be considered a reason for the liberal introduction of social welfare reform because…

Answer 3

in order to counter the threat of the labour party the liberals were forced to introduce some reform that would help keep the support of the working classes such as the Education (provision of meals) act 1906 which meant free school meals were provided to school children

Question 4

A+ - However, fear of the rising labour party could not be considered the reason for the introduction of liberal reform because…

Answer 4

the labour party were stillso small between 1906-1914 that they didnt pose much of a threat at all. In december 1910 for example labour had 42 seats but the liberals had over 6X this

Question 5

Ev - Upon evaluation, the rising labour party never really posed much of a threat to the liberals because importantly,

Answer 5

any labour MP in government would not have voted against liberal reform as opposition partys would be expected to because they recognised there was such a need for them
the rising labour also did not draw atention to poverty the way booth and rowentree had. their work went onto trigger investigatons such as in Edinbrugh and Glasgow which found children there to be under weight and under height compared to the national average - drawing further atention to the reality of poverty