Reasons for the Liberal Social Reforms - Rise of the Labour Party
1.
2. Working class votes
The Reform Acts of 1832, 1867
and 1884 had made big changes
to British politics.
Working class men that could now
vote demanded that politicians
listened to them.
This meant dealing with the poor’s
concerns – even if the party did
not genuinely support this
(political advantage).
3. Working class groups
In the late-1800s, different political
groups were set up to represent
working class interests. This
included the Independent Labour
Party, the Social Democratic
Federation and the Fabian
Society.
In 1900, these groups worked
together to form the Labour
Representation Committee.
4. The Labour Party
The establishment of the Labour
Representation Committee gave
working class men their own
authentic voice.
The Labour Party (as it became
known in 1906) offered a variety of
policies aimed to attract working
class support. They argued that
workers were not represented in
Parliament – but should be.
5.
6. The Labour Party
The 1906 Labour election
manifesto made various promises
to working men, including:
•An eight-hour working day for all
workers
•Building more and better housing
to tackle overcrowding
•Ensure that trade unions could
campaign for their members
7. The Labour Party
Labour’s rise led to Liberal
worries.
The Liberals usually attracted
working class votes, so a working
class party might take away a lot
of their support.
The need to keep working class
votes may have forced the
Liberals to back social reforms.
8. The Labour Party
In 1906, David Lloyd George gave
a speech where he said:
“I warn you about the Labour
Party. I warn you it will become a
terrifying force that will sweep
away Liberalism. We must
eliminate the widespread poverty
which scars this land … otherwise
the working men of Britain will vote
Labour instead of Liberal.”
9. 1906 Manifesto
However it is too simple to say that
the Liberals only brought in
reforms to beat Labour.
One major point to consider is that
in the 1906 General Election the
Liberal manifesto makes almost
no mention of social reforms.
This suggests the issue is of
limited importance.
10. Labour progress
Over time, Labour became a much
more important and successful
political party.
Labour had two MPs in 1900,
rising to 29 MPs in 1906 and then
42 MPs by 1910.
In terms of votes, this made
Labour the third biggest party in
Britain by 1910.
11. Labour progress
In the 1910 election, although the
Liberals gained most MPs, they
actually had fewer votes than the
Conservatives. Many traditional
Liberal voters had left them to
instead vote Labour.
David Lloyd George said that
Liberal action was need to stop
“this electoral rot” meaning a need
to act to beat Labour.
12. Labour’s influence?
Many Liberal Reforms were only
expanded and improved after
Labour’s 1910 success.
Free schools was only optional in
1906, however this was made
compulsory in 1914.
Medical inspections were started
in 1907 but it was not until 1912
that free treatment was added.
13. Labour’s influence
However in 1910 the Liberals were
still the party that gained most
working class support, winning
274 MPs in January’s general
election.
This suggests they did not need to
worry about Labour as they
remained the main choice for
poorer voters.
14. Labour and Liberal pact
In 1903, Herbert Gladstone of the
Liberal Party made a deal with the
Labour Representation
Committee’s Ramsay MacDonald.
This pact said that the Liberals
would not stand against Labour in
areas with lots of working class
voters. This aimed to stop the anti-
Conservative vote being split.
15. Labour and Liberal
pact
The fact that the Liberals
agreed this pact with shows
that they were worried about
the threat Labour posed to their
working class support.
Their reforms may therefore
have been in the hope of
keeping this support.
16. Labour and Liberal
pact
The Liberals’ main rivals for
forming a government
remained the Conservatives.
Making a deal with Labour
shows the Liberals did not
genuinely see Labour as a
major threat, instead a group
that they needed to work
with.
