(a) Explain Why the House of Lords Rejected the 1909 Budget

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The 1909 budget was the Liberal’s key weapon in instagating social reform, with it’s radical plans to redistribute the burden of tax and the introduction of financial support such as the non-contributory pension. The Budget was quickly rejected by the landed majority in the House of Lords, beginning the first constitutional crisis of the twentieth century. Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer needed to find £15 million of extra revenue to provide for the new social services and for the construction of naval warships. He set out to tax the rich and especially those living on unearned income. His budget proposed; increased incomes tax on incomes over £3,000 a year, a new super tax on incomes over £5,000 a year, increased death duties on estates of over £5,000 a year,and new land taxes, indirect taxes on luxury goods such as petrol, beer and cars. Lloyd George wanted to increase revenue and he believed in the redistribution of weath from rich to poor, however, he probably had other motives for launching such a controversial budget as well. He needed to show the working class votes that they didn’t need to vote for the Labour Party to achieve economic and social reform and perhaps more importantly he wanted to punish the conservatives for their opposition of the Lords – something that they resented greatly. Previously the Conservative domination of the House of Lords caused no problems however once the Liberals came into power the Lords could use the power to wreck their legislation. After the Liberal Landslide in 1906, the Conservatives were practically powerless in the House of Commons, but they decided to use the permanent conservative majority in the Lords to block the policies of the new Liberal government and so by doing this they could show that they still had control over the country. Balfour believed that ‘the great unionist party should still
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