Conservative Government 1895-1905

Chamberlain wanted to introduce a tax on countries for importing their goods. 

Britain ran on free trade; Chamberlain branded Britain as a "dumping ground".

He used the argument that Ecomomic powers; Germany and America already used the tax, and that if Britain taxed, it would raise money for social reforms in Britain.

He also believed it would protect home industires from foreign competetion, as foreign goods would be more expensive (protectionism).

The tax would raise food prices, which angered many people, and which is why the reform was so controversal. It divided the government and the conservative party. This meant the government was weak, and portrayed Balfour as weak, therefore his leaderhsip was threatned.

As a compromise, he decided Britain would use tariffs but only with countries that used a tariff on them. The compromise failed to unite the government as it didn't please either side. Baflour resigned as a result in 1905.

The government wanted to regulate the conscumption and sale of alcohol.

They wanted to stop young children consuming so much alcohol. 

They wanted to reduce the number of Public houses, so would compensate Brewers and Publicans for cancelling their licenses.

Non-conformists were angered by the 'brewers bill' as they saw alcohol as a vice, and believed brewers and publicans shouldn't be compensated. 

Many Non-conformists stopped supporting the Conservatives, which is shown in the 1906 Liberal Landslide victory. 

The governemnt wantes to raise the shchool leaving to 12, to improve education for the future. Instead of the schools being funde by the church, schools would know be funded by local taxes. 

Non-conformists opposed this as most schools belonged to the church of England. They didn't want to pay taxes for church of England schools. 

Therefore some Non-conformists refused to pay the tax, so the act failed in the short term, as they didn't have enough money to raise the age, However in the long term the act was a success.

Chamberlain took Britain into 'Joe's War'. 

Britain thought they'd have an easy victory as there was 260,000 soldiers, to 60,000 dutch soldiers. However this didn't happen, and the War took 3 years to win.

The Britsish burnt the civillans houses, which left many women and children homeless. Kitchener moved them to outside prisons (concentration camps).

Emily Hobhouse was horrifed by the conditions, and reported them back to Britain. 24,00 Boers lost their lives, 80% of whcich were under the age of 16.

The war ws very expensive. David Lloyd George protested against the war "we have resorted to killing babies".

Up to a third of volunteers were turned away because theu were too unfit, mainly due to malnourishment. This showed their was a problem with Britains national efficency.