Conservative Weakness/ Liberal Landslide 1906

401 seat : 157 seats
Boer War
1. more costly in lives and money than expected
2. after the discovery of the treatment of the South Africans the Conservatives lost a lot of votes - Concentration Camps, discovered by Emily Hobhouse - starvation and illnesses 27,000 women and children died, 24,000 under 16y/o
3. need for a strong army - the Boer War pointed out how many working class men were unfit for fighting which concerned the government . Didn't have the equipment, technique and adaptations
1902 Conservatives Education Act - All schools to be funded from local rates not churches Nonconformists outraged that taxes be sent on Catholic schools
1. Campaigns
2. Refusing to pay taxes
3. All those that were against this act were persuaded by Lloyd-George to vote for Liberals in the Welsh 1904 county council elections
1904 Licensing Act
1. Many nonconformists supported the Liberals already but switched to the Conservatives who were against Home Rule However this Act turned them back to the Liberals
2. angered nonconformists as brewers and publicans were being compensated for the cancellation of their licenses
Chinese Labour Issue - working for low wages being imported into South Africa
1. Non-Conformists and Trade Unions
2. Possibly increasing unemployment due to foreign immigration
Taff Vale Case - Dispute Taff Vale Railway Company and rail-workers trade union which led to strike action
1. Company suing Trade Union - This made the Trade Unions pointless as the strikes were not effective and they could not help the workers
2. Conservative refuse to re-write legislation
3. Trade Unions then supported Labour Groups for Parliament
Neglect of Social Reform
1. Seebohm Rowntree
2. Old, Sick, Unemployed, Children
Tariff Reform Campaign was suppose to: - Protect British jobs - Pay for Social Reforms - Strengthen Britain's position in the world
1. increasing tax on exports and lowering tax on imports This would make British good more expensive and less competitive against larger Industrial Nations such as Japan, Germany and USA
2. Public Fears - Make food more expensive - Fall in living standards
Weak Leadership
1. Salisbury's death '02
2. Balfour not a good leader - ot as sensitive to public opinion - indecisive and miscalculated the reactions on key issues - failed to foresee the anger over Education Act, Chinese Labour and Taff Vale
Labour Attraction
1. Strong agreement over Free Trade
2. Broad Party - not dominated by an particular issue
3. Using Conservative weaknesses against them
4. Lib-Lab Pact
  1. Liberals were not to oppose Labour in 30 selected constitutions Labour agreed to not compete in other to prevent split in anti-Conservatives votes
5. Moderate Leader - safe allies

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Conservative Weakness/ Liberal Landslide 1906

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