Was the 1918 Representation of the People Act the main reason for the decline of Liberals and the rise of the Labour Party in the years 1918-1929?
Though the Representation of the People Act 1918 was significant reason for the decline of the Liberals and the rise of the Labour Party in the years 1918-1929 it was however not the main reason, the concept of Unity within the three most prevalent parties in Britain( Conservatives, Labour, and Liberal )was. This essay will explore and evaluate the reasons for the descent of Liberal Party and the ascension of the Labour Party by exploring the significance of each reason being: the concept of Unity, the 1918 Representation of the People Act, Economic Problems and lastly Opposition towards the Liberals.
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The Representation of the People Act 1918 certainly served as a catalyst to the rise of Labour and the natural descent of the Liberals, this act stated forward that all men over 21 and women over 30 who met the correct property requirements were enfranchised.
Evidently the size of the electorate act tripled from 7.7 million people who were entitled to vote to 21.4 million with women making 43% percent of the overall electorate. This resulted in the working class people now possessing great electoral opportunity which involved discovering new, different sympathies in the Labour Party who was heavily connected to trade unions, exclusively working for the rights of the working class, making it appealing to vote for Labour as the party had gained more acceptance and were immediately the option for the working class to create Britain with more equality. Therefore with so many people enfranchised in Britain people felt they had a better chance of electing their preferred parties into government making it so that Labour became a real contender in the 1918 coupon election where it …show more content…
gained 57 seats,21 more seats than the Liberals. And despite the agreement to continuing to support the coalition government between Bonar Law (Conservative leader) and David Lloyd George (newly appointed Liberal leader) in this election, Liberal sympathies were in rapid decline due to lack of distinction and the pre-existing issues in the party. This evidence clearly suggested that if it were not for enfranchisement act Labour would not have had the votes needed to significantly popularise their party and the Liberals wouldn’t had a real competitor in the two party system which First Past The Post operated by. This is turn makes The Representation of the People Act the second reason as to the decline of Liberals and gradual ascension of the Labour Party. Unity and the lack thereof was the main reason for the decline of Liberals and the rise of the Labour Party. The Labour very nearly split about the decision of whether to go into war as great numbers of their supporters were pacifists (believers of nonviolence in the resolving of disputes) but despite this the party managed to unite effectively and bring great benefit to the Labour Party. Post war the trade unions increased their likeability as the contribution to the war effort was praised in relation also to their willingness to avoid industrial conflict. War time also made ‘socialist ideas’ of state control of supplies, industries and services attractive to the British public. The end of the war acted as the primary catalyst to political change particularly in the decline of the Liberal Party who in the contrary only suffered after the war when Lloyd George increasingly identified with Conservative ideals. Asquith’s subpar leadership undermined the party unity as party sympathies were divided between Asquith and Lloyd George. Evidenced at the Maurice debate where Lloyd George was accused of providing false information as to the number of British troops serving on the Western front, Asquith openly inferring that knowingly Lloyd George consciously misled parliament. Despite these allegations being disproved it cemented the split in the Liberal party. Proven in the General Election of 1922; the disunity proved catastrophic because the parties division meant that they didn't share enough seats to form government and solidified the complete dislodging of the Liberal Party as they never reunited due to the profound differences between their leaders as a result weren't strong enough to beat Labour as the second party in the FPTP system. Historians argue that if wasn't for the war the Liberals would not have split despite there being problems within the party pre-war. Overall the Liberals inner party conflict became the main reason why it declined and allowed Labour, the more distinctive party post war expand, so much so that it formed Government in 1924 for a ten month period between January and October despite its infancy and lack of extensive political experience. Furthermore during its time in government, post war the Liberals economic problems and the new conservatism employed Stanley Baldwin resulted in the further decline of the Liberals and the ascension of Labour.
David Lloyd George's promise of social reform was not met and the lack thereof resulted the Liberals decline in popularity. His failure to provide social reform and in fact his implementation of cuts such as in the case of the Geddes Axe where spending cuts of £86 million were proposed notably in education and health undercut Lloyd George's promise of a ‘land fit for heroes’. Because of these economic problems high unemployment prevailed reaching 2 million as the staple industries were uncompetitive and therefore as industrial unrest existed in events such as 1921 April national miners’ strike because of wage cuts. All this economic uses resulted in anxiety within the coalition government who feared Lloyd George dictatorial style seen in the Chanak Affair where he without consulting his coalition partners ordered British troops to protect Greece from Turkish forces, would split the party. Lloyd George's resignation after the Carlton club meeting after 187 to 87 Conservative MPs agreed to abandon the coalition demonstrated that the Liberals were no Longer fit to govern and made space for the Liberal party to establish itself as the 2nd major party in the Britain. Later in the years 1924-1929 Conservative dominance would serve as another key reason for Liberals decline
and the naturally the rise of Labour. Baldwin was a conciliatory leader, someone willing to make compromises, abandoned protectionism, a tax imposed by government on imported goods to protected domestic industries, in favour of keeping the party together, meaning that he was able to rebrand Conservatism into ‘New Conservatism’ intended to appeal to the masses and Baldwin tried to eradicate his party from being the party associated solely with the first class and instead attracted the party to all classes due to enormous amounts of social reform contributions such as: the Equal Franchise Act 1926, where women could vote on the same terms as men and the Electricity Supply act 1926 which set up the national grid. On account of this the Liberal party continued to decline in popularity and Labour Party increased in popularity and became the Conservatives sole rival. At the same time Opposition towards the Liberals was the final reason why the Liberal party declined and the Labour rose in power. This is opposition towards the Liberals is significantly exemplified in the Irish problem. The conservatives highly disagreed with the David Lloyd George's handling of the Irish problem. On December 6 1921 the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed partitioning Ireland; Southern Ireland was the Irish Free State and became self-governing whilst Northern Ireland remained part of the British monarchy. Accordingly due to the division of Ireland the Conservatives never forgave Lloyd George for his part in the division. The lack of social reforms also during the Lloyd George's government as stated previously before along with the mismanagement of the Irish problem, heavily decreased the Liberals attractiveness and they failed to recover ever since. In conclusion the lack of unity in the Liberal party due to interpersonal factor within the party argued previously meant that it no longer possessed the political strength and voter’s sympathy to once again govern Britain, in stark contrast to Labours during and post war who distinguished themselves as a political power. Particularly after the Representation of the People Act which tripled the voter base, and later on the ‘New Conservatism’ pushed the Liberals even further away from government as the Conservatives regained back their political influence by restructuring their appeal and finally the Liberals overall lack of popularity positioned the Labour party as the second Party mostly throughout the period of 1918-1929 through the system of FPTP. By Gilmanda
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