The Significance of the Liberal Election Victory of 1906

The Significance of the Liberal Election Victory of 1906

“A quiet, but certain, revolution, as revolutions come in a

constitutional country” was how Lloyd George hailed the election

victory of 1906.

The significance of the Liberal election victory of 1906 is that it

laid down solid foundations to provide the welfare state we have

today. It also saw the rise of the Labour Party, giving the working

class its own political voice.

The results of the 1906 election were literally a reversal of the 1900

election. The Liberals enjoyed the landslide victory that the

conservatives had six years earlier. The 1900 election gave the

Conservatives 402 seats to the Liberals 183 seats continuing the

Conservative dominance, in the last twenty years the Liberals had only

seen three years in government. The 1906 election result gave the

Conservatives only 157 seats, former Conservative Prime Minister,

Balfour, lost his Manchester seat. The Liberals won 401 seats; these

included 24 Lib-Lab MPs; the Liberals would also have the support of

29 Labour members and 82 Irish Nationalists. This was an excellent

result which gave the new Government a majority of 356.

Although the Conservatives were overwhelmingly defeated, their

proportion of the votes did not go down compared to the election in

1900. The Licensing Act and the 1902 Education Act went against the

strict political and social views of the non-conformists. This was

enough for them to go out and vote Liberal in 1906. This accounts for

a 25% increase in Liberal votes in 1906.

After years of Tory dominance the Liberals turned the 1900 election

result on its head. A major significance was...

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...ilings, committing arson, Emily

Davidson committed suicide at the Epsom Derby by throwing herself

under the Kings horse. Women who were jailed for their part in these

protests went on hunger strike. They were forcibly fed until the Cat

and Mouse Act of 1913, this allowed the release of severely emaciated

women, and they would then be re-arrested when there health had

improved. It was not until 1918 that woman over thirty with property

were allowed to vote, it was 1927 before women were given the same

voting rights as men.

There are many significances of the 1906 General Election victory, the

Liberals faced the problems that poverty brought. They provided for

the poorest of society, the next generation and the elderly. They laid

down solid foundations for a welfare state that could be improved on

in years to come.