Another key issue was the Taff Vale Case. The Taff Vale Railway Company sued the trade union concerned for loss of funds incurred through a workers strike (the strike caused by lack of union recognition and low wages). The main question was; ‘Could a trade union be sued and forced to pay damages for wrongs done by its own members?’ The answer was ‘Yes’. The union had to pay £23,000 in costs and damages, in addition to its own legal costs. This legal decision was now being made in other cases where trade unions were liable for funds and damages. This harmed the government’s attitude towards industrial relations. Future strike action would appear to have been drastically curtailed by these legal decisions. Thus showing Balfour’s short-sightedness.
Chinese Slavery was an issue involving working class discontent. At the end of the Boer War a severe labour shortage arose in South African mines. To combat this mine owners were allowed to import around 50,000 Chinese workers on low wages. These workers were housed in camps and suffered poor living conditions. This incident conveys a perfect example of Balfour’s failure to appeal to the middle ground in politics and of his insensitivity to the working class. The Liberals capitalised on this error and produced propaganda hoping to destroy Unionist popularity even more. The political scandal that followed the protests had not abated by 1906, and it certainly harmed the Unionists at the polls.
In 1904 unemployment stood at 600,000 and it was recognised that a scheme needed to be proposed to help the unemployed who at the time had no benefit. The result was the Unemployed Workmen Act 1905. Many authorities were set up in each London borough to provide money, casual employment for the temporarily unemployed, and to refer the permanently unemployed to the workhouse. The major financial resource came from the Queen’s Fund, amounting to £153,000; as well as a local rate of no more than one penny in the pound. The fact that the Bill couldn’t be reversed meant it was only carried with opposition support and was strongly resisted by die-hard unionists. The workers were no better off; destitution was the main problem, and the Bill did not attack the root of this. Employers also objected as the government was interfering with ‘free-market’.
By 1900 there were basically 2 types of school – Voluntary Schools (Church Schools) and Board Schools (ran by an elected School Board). The Education Act of 1902 abolished School Boards and Local Education Authorities (LEA’s) were established. It also meant that Voluntary Schools would now be funded from the local rates. Non-conformists become bitter that their rates are paying for Church Schools, less state schools would have been built and so non-conformist children have to go to Church Schools. The effect of this was simple; many non-conformists vote liberal in 1906.
The Licensing Act 1904, like the education act, lost the government votes. Throughout the 19th Century there was constant agitation about the number of public houses. Many were closed and Balfour felt compensation should be given for redundant licensees. This was given from a fund levied on the licensing trade itself. Balfour again lost votes from non-conformists as they felt that not enough pubs had been closed. Many brewing and licensing industries disliked the fact that they had to pay and so Balfour lost more votes over what should have been a common sense measure. The Liberals hostility to this act, which they called the ‘Brewers’ Bill’ won them more votes in the election, especially from non-conformists.
Balfour’s personality played a big part in the overwhelming Liberal victory; temperamentally he was not fitted to lead a party. He was very aristocratic, rather aloof and somewhat unsympathetic to the plight of others. He could always see both sides to an argument and so made him very indecisive.
“Balfour’s failure to gauge or blindness to public opinion contributed to the overwhelming Liberal election victory.”
Balfour attempted to exploit potential rifts in the Liberal Party to weaken the party and increase the chance/possibility of tuning around the Conservative electoral slide. He did this by resigning from parliament rather than being dissolved. Thus the Liberals are forced into government (rather than holding an election) for a year before the 1907 election. Balfour hopes that within this year the rifts in the Liberals will show so that the Conservatives will win back the public before 1907. But Balfour’s tactical plan backfired on the Conservative Party as the Liberals made a ‘good job’ of governing. Under the leadership of Campbell Bannerman, and his desire to keep the conservatives out of government, they succeed in their ideas of Free Trade etc. Bannerman manages to stand above the 5 factions; he holds people from all these factions and unites them in government.
To conclude I would say that the main issue involved in the Liberal victory were the many careless reforms introduced by the Conservatives and in particular Balfour. The most important of these reforms being Tariff Reform which overall united the Liberals and divided the Conservatives.
