Another reason why the conservatives lost support by 1906 is due to Chinese slavery from 1903 – 04. The British sent vast amounts of Chinese slaves to South Africa to mine for gold and diamonds as well as to rebuild it. The ‘non-conformists’ and middle classes were upset at this because it was seen as ‘immoral practices’. The slaves were treated badly and they were all men, this resulted in them turning to other men for sexual gratification because they were away from there wives for so long. Although there was uproar from the ‘non-conformists’ and the middle classes, there were no riots, they just thought what was going on was in fact inhumane. The class that objected the most was the working class. The working class & the unemployed resented the Chinese because they were jealous, they wanted the money that was being paid to the Chinese! The working class couldn’t strike over this because they thought that the Chinese would replace there jobs! Combined with the ‘Taff Vale case” it is easy to see why the working class had no incentive to work and why the conservatives lost there support.
A further reason on why the conservatives lost support by 1906 was due to the licensing act of 1904. Before this act had passed, pubs could be set-up virtually anywhere. The ‘licensing act of 1904’ stops this because the conservative government thinks that ‘drinking isn’t good’, pubs were then chosen at random and told to shut down. This resulted in workers being unemployed and breweries having less demand, i.e. losing money. The conservatives have always been known to help people that vote for them, so due to loss of earnings, the breweries get compensation which of course is actually compensated by tax. Almost every group in society was livid over this. The working class were upset because they often went for casual drinks, whereas now they couldn’t, the pub owners were also very upset because there business and livelihood had been shut down. The ‘non-conformists’ were also very upset because they thought alcohol was the root of all evil so for them to pay tax for the breweries’ compensation was just ludicrous. The middle and upper classes always drank at home so they were also upset because they now had to pay tax to the breweries which they never used. The general feeling by 1904 was that most groups in society thought the conservative government was a shambles. The conservatives continued to use ‘quick-fox’ solutions which didn’t actually work! They thought people continue to heavily drink, so let’s stop the drink being circulated! They never actually took the time to look at the causes at the problem of drinking. The conservatives should’ve adopted a policy like that of Tony Blair on crime in 1997, “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime.”
A different reason of why the conservatives lost so much support by 1906 is due to the ‘Tariff reform proposals’ from 1903 – 05. At this time, around 1903, Britain followed the policy of ‘free trade’; this is where all goods were the same price everywhere. The conservatives on the other hand always wanted ‘protectionism’, the opposite to free trade. These proposals were to make the ‘British empire more stable’ and were set by a conservative figure, Joseph Chamberlain. Joseph proposed tariffs on cheap goods, these proposals include a system of “Imperial preference”, i.e. People within the empire can purchase goods for cheaper. These tariffs were also to include ‘import control taxes’, this would result in employers having to pay more to import goods, effectively making them by within the empire. The negative side to the ‘import tax’ was that you couldn’t actually buy certain goods in the empire, like good cotton for example. Employers would’ve been faced with the dilemma of choosing whether to buy cheaper goods from within the empire, but of lower quality, or to pay the ‘import taxes’ and get better quality goods but raise there prices. This would, however, displease customers because they would have to pay more for exactly the same product. The conservatives yet again lost support from the working classes because they were already in enough poverty so they definitely wouldn’t be able to pay more for the same goods. This would result in industry losing demand. The only people that looked to benefit were the farmers, as they could raise their prices to whatever they liked! The ‘tariff reform proposals’ caused party splits amongst the liberals and the conservatives. The ‘liberal unionists’ broke off from the liberal party and joined the conservatives, Balfour , the current conservative prime minister, decided to take a gamble. He resigned because he knew the liberals were split and divided, therefore once the conservatives won the upcoming election, he could conveniently go back to his position as prime minister. Well that sure backfired, Campbell-Bannerman the leader of the liberal party called an election as soon as Balfour resigned and the liberals won by an overwhelming majority. This showed that the liberal divisions amounted to nothing, a fraction of what Balfour thought.
In conclusion, it is evident why the conservatives lost so much support by 1906. The working classes were upset and angered by the fact that they had no powers to call strikes, that ‘Chinese immigrants’ were soon to be taking there jobs, or so it seemed, that pubs were now closed down and that soon they were to pay more money for the same goods. All these factors as well as others contributed to the loss of support for the conservative party. In addition, ‘non-conformists’ by 1906 also had no support for the conservative party due to ‘Rome rates’, the immoral practices due to Chinese slavery and the fact that their taxes were to be paid to breweries! In my opinion, the ‘Tariff reform proposals’ were the tip of the iceberg, many people resented the proposals and it caused much discontent amongst all classes. As well as these factors, there was a feeling of ‘electoral fatigue’ amongst the voters, the conservatives had been in power for over 10 years, people wanted change! The lib-lab pact ensured the liberals would get more seats in the house of commons. The election campaigns in which there was a significant poster that showed a large loaf of bread under the liberals and with the same amount of money, a small loaf under the conservatives. Balfour’s personality can also be contributed to the unstableness of the conservative government, it could in fact be argued that Balfour was useless from the start, after all he didn’t have any political experience!