In addition to this, the Conservatives education act of 1902 displeased the Non Conformists, Christians who were neither Church of England nor Catholic. The 1902 act allowed all schools to be funded from the local rates, prior to this all the Anglican and Catholic schools had been funded by the churches.
This angered the Non Conformists, because their taxes were being spent on schools which they objected. Some English Non Conformists refused to pay their taxes, in Wales a whole campaign was set up by David Lloyd George, a Liberal MP, to oppose the 1902 education act.
In 1904 the licensing act also angered the Non Conformist voters. The act proposed to reduce the number of public houses by a considerable number. The Non Conformists did not agree with this because the Conservative government had offered to compensate the Brewers and Publicans. The Non Conformists saw this as a way of the Conservatives keeping their Brewer supporters happy and as a result of this, they gave the licensing act a nick name of the ‘Brewers bill’. At this point a considerable number of the Non Conformists returned to voting Liberal.
The ‘Chinese Slavery’ issue was a problem that occurred alongside the education act in 1902 to the licensing act in 1904. Chinese labourers were working for very small amounts and were being imported into South Africa. This angered the Non Conformists and the Trade Unionist. They saw this as immorally wrong and they feared that employers might bring them into Britain. This would have had an effect on the economy and the wages of labour would have decreased. With high unemployment in 1905, and there being not enough support for the unemployed, opposition to ‘Chinese Slavery’ took away a number of votes for the Conservative Party.
The Conservatives also lost support from the Trade Unionist due to the Taff Vale case in Wales. In 1901 there was a dispute, between the Taff Vale Railway Company and the railway workers, it resulted in the workers going on strike. The Company took the trade union to court and they were allowed to sue the trade union for the profit loss it had incurred during the time their workers were on strike. This decision could only be overruled with an act of Parliament, but the Conservative party refused to introduce such a legislation.
After Salisbury’s death in 1902, Balfour acquired the position of Conservative Prime Minister. Although he was a highly intelligent man, the public believed that he was not sensitive to their needs. Balfour piloted the 1902 education bill and received the wrath of the non conformist. He also failed to see the anger that the ‘Chinese Slavery’ and the Taff Vale issues would cause amongst British working men. Also Balfour could be blamed for the timing of the 1906 election, because it occurred through his unusual decision for his government to step down in December 1905.
By 1905 the Liberals were also a reunited party. Issues such as Irish home rule had been left unmentioned, the Boer war was over and the leadership of the party had been decided. All of the Liberals were united behind the idea of free trade. Free trade was an issue that affected people’s everyday life, so the Liberals gained a lot of positive feedback form their ideas. The Liberals were able to exploit Conservative mistakes in regard to trade unions and could also lure in the Non Conformists by exploiting the Conservatives mistakes with education, licensing. Irish voters in Britain were more likely to vote Liberal because of its earlier attempts at Home rule as opposed to the anti-home rule Conservatives.
The Lib-Lab Pact also played an influential role in securing Liberal votes at the 1906 election. In 1903 the Liberals made an agreement with the leader of the Labour party, Ramsay MacDonald. Whereby the Liberals would not oppose Labour candidates in the next general election in 30 selected constituencies in England and Wales where a labour candidate was more likely to beat a Conservative. In return the Labour party promised to restrict their candidates in other constituencies and therefore prevent a split in the anti-Conservative vote. The two parties were also in agreement about social reform and working class reform. The Liberal/ Labour joint campaigns against the 102 Education Act and ‘Chinese Slavery’ alliterated this.
All general election results can be assessed in terms of whether the factors causing one side to win are more or less important than the factors causing the opposing side to lose. In the decade before the 1906 election the Conservatives had won two general elections. Therefore in conclusion, the Conservatives suffered a crushing defeat in the 1906 election because of many factors. Most of these were down to the Conservatives themselves other than the Liberals being a greater opposition. Although the Lib-Lab pact was a smart idea, it would not have worked as well as it had done without large groups, such as the Non Conformist and Trade Unionists having a dislike towards the Conservative party.
The Conservatives angered the Non Conformists on several accounts; the Education act, ‘Chinese Slavery’ and the Licensing act. Theses were all things that could have been avoided with a little bit of tact and thought. The trade Unionist only wanted the Conservative party to show a little bit of backing behind them in their court case, it could be argued that if the Conservatives had done this the outcome of the 1906 election may have been different.
It could also be argued that when Salisbury died the Conservative party died with him, Balfour’s approach to handling things was a lot more extreme and radical. If Balfour had not decided for the Conservative government to resign then technically the 1906 election wouldn’t have been called by the Liberals.
The evidence seems to point strongly to the fact that the Conservatives were responsible for their own defeat, mainly due to their own complacency and failing to look after their loyal supporters and voters.
