Account for the overwhelming Liberal victory in the 1906 General Election.

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Account for the overwhelming Liberal victory in the 1906 General Election.

        The Liberals won the 1906 election because of the way in which they capitalised the Unionist’s mistakes and unpopularity.  Their promise to repeal the 1902 Education Act and their hostility to the 1904 Licensing Act, which they castigated as a ‘brewers’ Bill because it established the principle of compensation for redundant public-houses, had reforged the old alliance with the Nonconformists and the temperance reformers that had worked so well in the past.  Their opposition to ‘food taxes’, ‘Chinese Slavery’, Taff Vale, and unemployment, and the hope that they would bring social reform, had helped to convert many working class voters.  The talented ministerial team that Campbell Bannerman had assembled and the new look liberalism that was emerging seemed to the electorate a far better prospect than the exhausted and socially divisive ideals of the Unionist party.

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        The Government accelerated the change of mood between 1902 and 1905 by a series of controversial measures and major mistakes, and consequently helped to bring a truly calamitous defeat upon themselves in the 1906 election.

        

The Education Act of 1902 was the first important setback.  Balfour was aware that Britain’s survival as a great power would to some extent rest on the quality of the educational system.  This issue was causing concern for politicians and educationalists.  Neither party could introduce reforms without antagonising some sectional interests, the Anglicans and the nonconformists.  Balfour who was warned that the Bill would ...

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