To help more to end the depression, Government introduced Special Areas Act in 1934. The Government realised that certain parts of the country were suffering far more than others from the Depression. It decided to give additional help to these ‘special’ or ‘depressed’ areas. The Special Areas Act appointed two commissioners with a budget of two million pounds to try to attract some of the new industries to the old industrial areas.
National government also introduced some public works. They started a programme of public works to build houses, schools and roads in order to created both skilled and unskilled jobs and halt unemployment but even though money for this programme doubled to £140 million this was too small an amount to make a significant difference, unlike in Germany where Hitler created a massive public works programme in order to cut unemployment.
However, many questions were raised supporting the negative actions that made the aftermath situation of the great depression worse. One of the unpopular actions was the introduction of the means test in 1931. Many claimed that the means test was more about government trying to save money than helping the unemployed. It was carried out by officials from the local authorities Public Assistance committees (PACs), which had been set up in 1930. The unemployed who were claiming benefit had to reveal what everyone in their house, including grown-up children, had in savings and earnings. The test even looked at all the value of things in the home that could be sold to raise cash. The means test was extremely unpopular. It was humiliating for families to have to reveal earnings, savings and the value of things they owned. The test created great strain in families, especially if one of the older children who had a job was forced to pay more towards the family funds.
Another unpopular step taken by the government was imposing the Import Duties Act in 1932. The Government tried to protect British Industry by increasing the price of foreign goods. The idea was that if more British goods were bought, more would have to be produced, and so more people would be employed to produce them. The Import Duties Act benefited British car and electrical goods industries in the south of England but had little effect in areas of high unemployment. Moreover, other countries put taxes on goods coming into their country from Britain. This made it more difficult for British export industries.
After looking at all the evidences, it could be argued the National Government tried to overcome the depression to a less extent. It is true that government tried to overcome the depression in Britain caused due to the Wall Street crash in the United States. By the end of the 130s, unemployment had fallen to one million. This was due to the government policies such as introducing unemployment benefit, public works etc. The industries were improving slowly as a result of the Special Areas Act in 1934 that aimed to attract some of the new industries to the old industries areas. However, some measures taken by the government such as the Means Tests 1931 and Import Duties Act 1932 were the actions that made government extremely unpopular.
General Strike
In 1925 the mine-owners announced that they intended to reduce the miner's wages. The General Council of the responded to this news by promising to support the miners in their dispute with their employers. The , decided to intervene, and supplied the necessary money to bring the miners' wages back to their previous level. This event became known as Red Friday because it was seen as a victory for working class solidarity.
The Prime Minister, , stated that this subsidy to the miners' wages would only last 9 months. In the meantime, the government set up a Royal Commission under the chairmanship of , to look into the problems of the Mining Industry. The Samuel Commission published its report in March 1926. It recognised that the industry needed to be reorganised but rejected the suggestion of nationalization. The report also recommended that the Government subsidy should be withdrawn and the miners' wages should be reduced.
The month in which the report was issued also saw the mine-owners publishing new terms of employment. These new procedures included an extension of the seven-hour working day, district wage-agreements, and a reduction in the wages of all miners. Depending on a variety of factors, the wages would be cut by between 10% and 25%. The mine-owners announced that if the miners did not accept their new terms of employment then from the first day of May they would be locked out of the pits.
A Conference of met on 1st May 1926, and afterwards announced that a General Strike "in defence of miners' wages and hours" was to begin two days later. The leaders of both the and the were unhappy about the proposed General Strike, and during the next two days frantic efforts were made to reach an agreement with the and the mine-owners.
The called the General Strike on the understanding that they would then take over the negotiations from the . The main figure involved in these negotiations was . Talks went on until late on Sunday night, and according to Thomas, they were close to agreement when broke off negotiations. The reason for his action was that printers at the had refused to print a leading article attacking the proposed General Strike. The TUC negotiators apologized for the printers' behaviour, but Baldwin refused to continue with the talks. The General Strike began the next day.
The adopted the following plan of action. To begin with they would bring out workers in the key industries - railwaymen, transport workers, dockers, printers, builders, iron and steel workers - a total of 3 million men (a fifth of the adult male population). Only later would other trade unionists, like the engineers and shipyard workers, be called out on strike.
On the 7th May, , Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry, approached the and offered to help bring the strike to an end. Without telling the miners, the TUC negotiating committee met Samuel and worked out a set of proposals to end the General Strike. These included: (1) a National Wages Board with an independent chairman; (2) a minimum wage for all colliery workers; (3) workers displaced by pit closures to be given alternative employment; (4) the wages subsidy to be renewed while negotiations continued. However, Samuel warned that subsequent negotiations would probably mean a reduction in wages. These terms were accepted by the TUC negotiating committee, but were rejected by the executive of the .
On the 11th May, at a meeting of the General Committee, it was decided to accept the terms proposed by and to call off the General Strike. The following day, the TUC General Council visited 10 Downing Street to announce to the British Government that the General Strike was over. At the same meeting the TUC attempted to persuade the Government to support the Samuel proposals and to offer a guarantee that there would be no victimization of strikers. This the Government refused to do. As , a member of the Government was to write later, the TUC's surrender was "so humiliating that some instinctive breeding made one unwilling even to look at them."
On 21st June 1926, the British Government introduced a Bill into the that suspended the miners' Seven Hours Act for five years - thus permitting a return to an 8 hour day for miners. In July the mine-owners announced new terms of employment for miners based on the 8 hour day. The miners were furious about what had happened although the General Strike was over, the miners' strike continued.
For several months the miners held out, but by October 1926 hardship forced men to begin to drift back to the mines. By the end of November most miners had reported back to work. However, many were victimized and remained unemployed for many years. Those that were employed were forced to accept longer hours, lower wages and district agreement.
In 1927 the British Government passed the . This act made all sympathetic strikes illegal, ensured the trade union members had to voluntarily 'contract in' to pay the political levy, forbade Civil Service unions to affiliate to the TUC, and made mass picketing illegal.
