The Second Labour Government Flashcards
(16 cards)
Describe the cabinet
Macdonald PM
Henderson in foreign office
Snowden chancellor of exchequer
Wheatley (left winger) was omitted
Margaret bondfield became minister of labour
Four areas Labour targeted in their domestic policies
- housing (housing act)
- road traffic
- unemployment insurance
- increased state control
Describe the housing act
- arthur greenwood’s housing act 1930
- restored subsidies for local authorities to build houses that had been given by wheatleys housing act in 1924, but reduced by conservatives
- using powers under the act to acquire and demolish privately owned properties, slum clearance schemes were put into action
- more low cost housing, mainly in the form of flats in urban areas
- led to the clearance of more slums and the building of around 700,000 new homes
- significantly improved living conditions for many working class families and had a lasting social impact
Describe the road traffic act
- 1930
- high number of road traffic accidents, there had 5000 deaths in 1926 alone
- offences such as DUI and dangerous driving
- drivers must have 3rd party insurance and driving tests were introduced
- Highway Code introduced
- speed limits and restrictions on driving hours to ensure safety
- speed limits for cars abolished, and they were not reimposed at 30 mph until 1934
Describe unemployment insurance
- unemployment insurance act 1930
- restored cuts to unemployment provision made by conservatives
- increased number of workers eligible for transitional benefit
- this was the money paid to workers when payments from the insurance scheme ran out
- more money available, requirement was only that these payments were restricted to those who were genuinely seeking work
- around 30s (1.50 a week) for a married couple with 2 children
Overall judgement on domestic policies
Ramsey Macdonald pursued a programme of limited domestic reform under extremely difficult circumstances. Whilst the government enacted some modest policy changes in areas such as unemployment insurance and housing, its overall success was severely constrained by the onset of the Great Depression and its status as a minority government dependent on liberal support. Consequently, labours domestic policy record during this period must be viewed as only partially successful.
Why did labours domestic policies during this period fail?
Wall Street crash and the Great Depression
Rising unemployment
- success was hampered by the rising levels of unemployment which meant that labours attention was taken away from social reforms
- failure to tackle mass levels of unemployment was more of a domestic issue than housing was
Who was chancellor of the exchequer
Snowden
What was the basis behind the coal mines act
- over production
- wanted to maintain prices
- maintain trading opportunities
What did the coal mines act recommend
- 1930
- recommended rationalisation
- mine owners recognised the need to restrict production and cut competition
- recommended the amalgamation of mines to restrict output and increase prices
- this act provided national regulation of the production, supply and sale of coal
- collieries divided between 21 districts and reported to the national central council
- this set the district quotas and minimum prices
- act also set up the coal mines reorganisation commission to supervise changes in the industry and to close inefficient mines
Downsides of the coal mines act
Government feared a more efficient industry would mean fewer workers- so progress to change remained slow
Act for agriculture
Agricultural marketing act 1931
Describe the agricultural marketing act
- encouraged efficiency and maintained prices
- restricting overproduction
- gave agricultural producers the right to set up a marketing board to regulate prices and production
- aim to create more efficient farming to maintain prices
- only one group used this- the hop growers who formed the Hop Marketing Board in 1932
- these succeeded in raising the very low price of hops paid by the brewers by 70%
Was the agricultural marketing act successful
- prices in the hop trade- the only industry to make use of the act- were not sustained, brewers protested and refused to pay and by 1934, prices had fallen
What was the Moseley memorandum
- more direct government intervention into the economy
- proposed extensive public works, especially on roads, paid for by accepting a deficit in the public finances
- industry should be protected by a tariff
- more radical measures such as introducing pensions aged 60 to cut the workforce
- increasing school leaving age to cut the workforce further
- this was too radical for the Labour cabinet who thought that more state control was too dangerous
- the costs of the public works would unbalance the budget, undermine confidence in public finance and threaten the pound
