Changing Political And Economic Enviroment Flashcards
(33 cards)
What happened to the liberals?
Been dominant before 1914 However were now in decline Middle class and there artesian working class voters began to look elsewhere as they were no longer seen to be the party of social reform.
What were the divisions between the liberals?
Many opposed the growth of the govt power especially since the introduction of conscription
Many liberals Felt when the coalition began in 1906 with conservatives DLG abandoned the principal a of liberals
Split party vote- DLG stood against many of the liberals opposed to him n party never recovered
What did the Labour Party do from 1918?
Labour Party had evolved from trade unionists
Aimed to advance working men’s pagans working conditions
1906 they had nearly 1 million members and 29 MP’s in Parliament
1910-40 MP’s
What did the representations of the people act do for the Labour Party?
Wages for MP’s so was no longer only for rich
British electorate Tripoli in size from 7.7 million to 21.4 million
Voter base grew drastically
what did the Conservative party do in 1918
The electoral reform had forced the party to change and attract new supporters
By the end of the first world war of the Conservatives presented themselves as a party of the middle class
The Conservatives continued to support David Lloyd George until 1922
After 1918 many of the Conservative voters were new property owning women
How did the 1918 and 1922 election because the decline of the liberal party
1918 David Lloyd George had effectively split the liberal party
Although the Liberal Conservative coalition won the Conservatives in the coalition were by far the most popular political party
Who was David Lloyd George and what does he do?
1918 David Lloyd George was national hero
He made it clear he was not in support of the House of Lords
How did the first Labour party rise to power in 1924
Ramsey McDonald was the first Leader. it was a minority government and the election was seen as deeply alarming
Members of the Conservative obsession accuse the party of supporting Soviet Russian regime and suggested they might be Soviet sympathisers among the cabinet
What were the main problem is that Ramsay MacDonald and is government faced
McDonald was forced to make choices which affected the poorest of the voters this was in order to manage the threat of industrial action
As it was minority government they relied on the support of liberals therefore if the liberals took away their support the government would collapse
What did Ramsay MacDonald achieve?
As the government only lasted for nine months it was too short to try to introduce much legislation
However he did pass a Housing act in 1924 which increased the amount of money available to local authorities to build homes for poor workers
How did McDonald’s first government collapse
McDonald was accused by Conservative government of having secret Communist sympathies
The government collapsed in autumn 1924 following a motion of no confidence which McDonald’s only narrowly won
McDonald was forced to resign and call an election
How did the general election of 1924 play out?
Conservative supporting newspaper claimed the letter from the Russian Communist revolutionaries sent a letter to the British communist party.
The letter was believed to tell British communist supporters to prefer to overthrow the government the Daily Mail hoped it would discourage people from voting labour or any other left-wing party
although the labour party did not collapse the Conservatives won the election
How did the Conservative party dominate between 1924 1929?
The new Conservative leader was Stanley Baldwin he wanted to be able to appeal to all social classes
He did not believe in the class war that was formed under McDonald’s government
What did McDonald do in his returned to power in March 1929?
McDonald’s was still relying on the liberal government to pass legislation he had more ambitious reforms planned and due to his good relationship with the liberals he was able to pass some social reforms
The 1930 Housing act
By 1939 the act had cleared three quarters of 1 million slum homes and replaced them with modern homes
The coal mines act of 1930
Attempted to ensure better pay for workers and more efficient hours and better working conditions
However the weakness of the legislation ensured that the mine owners could ignore it
Amendment to the unemployment insurance act
Government power to create public works schemes to alleviate unemployment it was funded with £25 million of government money
What were the economic issues that Ramsey McDonald and his government faced during 1931
There were rumours that the forthcoming budget would be unbalanced meaning the government had plans to spend more than it could afford leading to an increase in borrowing
This caused panic in American banks and panic selling of the pound exchanging it for other currencies had begun causing the pound to slump in value
What did the government do to reassure investors and finansers that that money was safe
The government proposed they’re spending cuts and tax hikes
However the main solution was the introduction of a 10% unemployment cut this was expected to keep the value of the pound stable
What came from the threat to Hot temper sent of employment to stable the pound
Another split was caused within the government the Labour Party a McDonald’s cabinet with spirit leading to the resigned of the government on August 24, 1931
Who formed the national government and what did they plan to do between 1931 to 1945?
The national government won the election by huge majority but it was a consensus within it who won the vast majority of the seats
Although Ramsey continued as PM he was just a figurehead
At this point the Conservatives aren’t most of the control as they were in the majority of the seats in the house
Britain emerged from the first ww victorious- who did they owe debts to? And how much?
What state did this leave the country in?
America
£3.2 billion
Britain lost world markets, trade was disrupted and they were left in a serious economic problems
What happened room Donnells premiership during 1931 to 35
It was dominated by the economic challenges caused by the Great Depression
Ramsey had to deal with the threat of fascism at home and the rise of fascism in Europe
They said the government to make some moves to try and rearm
What was the economic policy and its effects?
Low interest rates are going to stimulate and economic recovery and the national government popularity increased.
The national government re implemented the spending cuts the previous government had used.
McDonald became increasingly isolated and is replaces Prime Minister by Stanley Baldwin in 1935