How successful were the Liberal government in the years 1906-1914 in bringing about political and institutional reform (24)

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How successful were the Liberal government in years 1906-1914 in bringing about political and institutional reform (24)

The Liberal government of  under rule of Bannerman and Asquith could be considered very successful in bringing about political and constitutional reform in the United Kingdom between these years. However, it was their political and constitutional reform which caused the most opposotion as it was considerably one of the most succesful governments in changing the way Britain was managed. Despite their great success achieving the 1911 Parliament Act, there were many factors that contributed to inhibiting their rapid reforming, and overall changes to Britain.

When the Liberals came into power in 1906 the Conservative party had a significant majority in the House of Lords due to their representation by the rich and landowners. This meant that if the Liberals wished to bring about legislation or alter the constitution and the Conservatives disagreed then the Lords could simply veto the decision whether or not the House of Commons agreed with the decisions. This agrivated the Liberals, in particular Lloyd George who (in 1906) needed to gain a substainstial amount of money to go towards the welfare reforms and to form the ‘Peoples budget’, which was to present unprecedented tax upon the rich. He believed this would gain support from the working classes.
Opposition and disgreement also arose from the liberals success in passing the
trades ' Bill in the trade unions dispute of 1906, conservatives and  argued against it inside the Cabinet but the outcome of the Committee dealing with the Bill in August was to favour the trade unions' alternative.

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The Lords of course did veto the bill of peoples buget, and so it led to the first general election of 1910. The Liberals claimed that the Lords were the selfish rich who weren’t willing to help the country, whereas the Conservatives tried to attract the wealthy, stating that this would lead to social revolution and it was the duty of the House of Lords to block controversial policy that the public hadn’t voted on. The Liberals won with a 2 seat majority after two general elections with the support of labour and the Irish nationalists. The 42 labour MPs ...

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