The high number of rejected Bills caused the popularity of the Liberal Party to decrease. Elections in January 1910 and December 1910 saw the number of elected Liberal MP’s fall dramatically. The only way they were able to stay in power was due to the support of the Labour Party and the Irish Nationalists. The need of this support also created many problems for the Liberal Party.
Although the Irish Nationalists support was key to the Liberal Party staying in power it shifted their attention away from other important issues. When the Liberal Party was elected one of their main objectives was Social Reform, however due to problems with Ireland and the Constitutional Crisis they had paid little attention to social reforms. Problems with Ireland and the Constitutional Crisis mad the Liberal Government look weak, they were supposed to be in power however they had very little control about the way in which the country was run and decisions made. In order to keep the Irish Nationalists support the Liberal Party had to introduce Home Rule in Ireland, however due to problems with the House of Commons and the Conservative party this was virtually impossible. The Liberal Party were the elected government however the Conservative Party still retained the majority of power. It was due to this that the Liberal Government lost a lot of support.
The Liberal Party also had to contend with the rise of the Labour Party. With the extension of the franchise the working class had found a political voice and the rise of the Labour Party saw many of the working class turning to the Labour Party for political representation.
The ever increasing number of Trade Unions and the increasing popularity in syndacalistic ideas made a decline in the support for the Liberal Party more popular. The number of strikes organised by trade unions increased dramatically between 1911 and 1914. The number of days lost through strikes by 1912 had risen to 40, 8900. Strikes took place in vital industries such as the railways, mines and the docks. Workers demanded betters working conditions, higher pay and improved working hours. Low numbers in unemployment made strikes easy to achieve and extremely effective. Many people had begun to believe that Trade Unions were the way forward as representation as the government were poor representation and achieving very little.
The Liberal Government also faced the continual problem of the demand for women to be able to vote and the Suffragette movement. The Suffragettes mainly consisted of middle class women who demanded the vote as a symbol of equality, they were led by the Pankhurst family. The Suffragettes used mainly different tactics in attempts to gain the vote, the majority of which violent and very public. They would use tactics such as arson, vandalism, breaking up political meetings, chaining themselves to railings and fasting. In response they were imprisoned, however this would only cause the women to go on hunger strike and in turn gain public sympathy. This made the Liberal government appear to have lost control, how could they be a political strength if they couldn’t even control women. The Liberal government could have solved the problem by giving the women the vote, however this would have led top even more uprising as not all men had the power to vote.
Although the Liberal Government had to contend with numerous problems during their term they did achieve many successes. Although the Constitutional Crisis was a major problem for the Liberal’s they did overcome this successfully with the introduction of the Parliament Act in 1911. For the first time the House of Lords was unable to completely stop Bills been passed and could only delay them for two years. This was revolutionary in politics and was the Liberal Party’s main success. This in turn solved problems concerning the Irish Nationalists, Irish Home Rule would have been passed if it wasn’t for the outbreak of World War 1.
The Liberal party were also successful in introducing several social reforms. These reforms included the National Insurance Act, pensions as well as other state run schemes. Social reform was one of the Liberal Party’s main aims when they were elected and they were successful in achieving them.
Although the Labour Party appeared to be gaining electoral support, many of the seats they achieved before World War 1 were due to their pact with the Liberal Party. Very few Labour candidates were elected into parliament without an official Liberal candidate opposing them. Although the Liberal Party appeared to be losing out to Labour this was not the case and would contradict the argument that the Liberal Party were weakening considerably before World War 1.
The Liberal party also retained the majority of elected seats in the two elections held in 1910. Although their number of elected seats had decreased the Liberal Party still retained the majority and remained in power. In the January 1910 election the Liberal’s 273 elected seats and in the December 1910 elections achieved 272 elected seats . This suggests that they were not doomed as they were able to remain in power.
Although the Liberal Government faced many problems during their time in power, they were still able to achieve many successes. They introduced many social reforms and the Parliament Act 1911 was revolutionary in politics. Election results also suggest that the Liberal Government were not heading for failure but proceeding to continue strongly. I therefore contradict Dangerfield’s theory that the Liberal government were doomed to failure prior to World War 1, suggesting that they were still a strong government. It would be easy to make assumptions looking back in hindsight as Dangerfield did, however I would argue that upon entering World War 1 the Liberal Party still appeared to be strong.
