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The Taff Vale case was the most significant reason the Liberals won the election of 1906. Do you agree or disagree with the statement?£5.48
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The Taff Vale case was the most significant reason the Liberals won the election of 1906. Do you agree or disagree with the statement?
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The Taff Vale case was the most significant reason the Liberals won the election of 1906.
Do you agree or disagree with the statement?
The Liberal Party held significant time in office, with William Gladstone being one of
the longest-serving statesmen in British history. The 1906 election was mired in new
political ideologies and appeasement of specific demographics, such as the working
class and the non-conformists, who all played their part in the bare exploitation of a
flawed electoral system. This essay will outline the events that not only pulled voters
towards the Liberal's newly founded new liberalism and Labour's democratic
socialism but also pushed them away from the Conservatives.
The Taff Vale case in 1901 was a significant factor in the Liberal's win in 1906. It had
pushed the working class away from the Conservatives through their belief in social
plutocracy, with many switching to the Liberals. The highest court at the time, the
House of Lords, had ruled that the business was within its right to sue the trade
union and its workers whose low wages and poor conditions had antagonised, and
this triggered many workers into believing they would be powerless in achieving
higher wages. This was significant because the lack of a minimum wage coupled
with the little support of workers the Conservatives believed in meant trade unions
were the only form of labour protection, and this ruling would only further enable poor
conditions and wages in a time of absolute poverty. Although it can be argued that
the House of Lords were non-elected and therefore did not traditionally represent
parties and the public, the Conservatives in the House of Commons refused to pass
an Act of Parliament to overrule their decision, and this led to the working class of
which many did vote Conservative to opt for alternatives such as the Labour
Representation Committee (LRC) founded in 1900 and the already established
Liberals who both promised to overrule the decision if elected.
This was substantial in the Liberals' political success as, at the time, poverty-infested
cities, as highlighted by the Boer War and later Booth and Rowntree’s reports, were
the homes of the working class. The constant threat of Chinese labourers that the
Conservatives favoured would drive down wages lower than they already were,
fuelled workers’ fears and by opposing the Taff Vale ruling, it shifted the unstable
working-class vote of the Conservatives towards the Liberal party, reducing the
50.2% vote share the Conservatives had in 1900 to 43.6% in 1906. Ultimately, this
, led to working-class voters from the Conservatives moving towards the LRC or the
Liberals to protect their livelihoods.
However, the reasons above prove that Taff Vale was not the most significant factor.
The Taff Vale case was just the final provocation of the already frustrated working
class. Instead, the decline in living standards and social reform was the underlying
and more significant factor that pushed voters towards the Liberals as workers
sought out higher wages through strikes in hopes it would help them afford food,
medicine, and better housing. Had the Conservatives introduced substantial social
and labour reform, it would be unlikely that the Taff Vale case would have had the
influence it did, as workers would have had very little to strike about. Furthermore, it
would also mean that Conservative voters would not have to vote for alternative
parties if they wanted reform, which was one of the Liberal and LRCs most appealing
policies.
Another factor that contradicts Taff Vale’s significance was that the LRC and Liberals
pledged to overturn the ruling, which would split the working-class vote, proving a
disaster for the Liberals under a First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system. For
this, it can also be argued that the Lib-Lab pact in 1906 was far more significant in
ensuring Liberal victory. It prevented the Conservatives from sweeping the right-of-
centre vote as the LRC and Liberals fought over every other ballot.
Political parties such as the Conservatives and the declining classical Liberals under
Gladstone advocated a laissez-faire approach regarding social reform and the
broader role of government. Therefore, it was the surge in new liberalism that
attracted voters from the Conservatives and Gladstonian Liberals to the party,
allowing them to win. One of new liberalism’s critical differences from its predecessor
was the state's role in ensuring a minimum standard of living and creating ‘safety
nets’. The Boer War exposed the vast malnutrition of soldiers in which 40-60% of
volunteers to the army, mainly from working-class backgrounds, were rejected on
medical grounds. Almost all men in the most deprived areas of Britain were rejected,
signifying underlying problems that social neglect had caused. Quality food was rare,
and medical examinations for children growing up were non-existent. Although the
Conservatives had set up the Committee on Physical Deterioration (CPD) in 1904,
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