Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1924, 1929–1931 & 1931–1935. The Second MacDonald Ministry was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his second appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 5 June 1929. It was only the second occasion on which the Labour Party had formed a government; the First MacDonald Ministry held office during 1924. The government formed lacked a parliamentary majority, gaining 288 seats with 8,300,000 votes compared to the Conservatives 255 seats with 8,560,000 votes - a wide disparity in seats won versus votes cast, created by the outcome on boundaries at the time under the first past the post electoral system. His ministers rapidly faced the problems stemming from the impact of the On the one hand, international bankers insisted that strict budget limits be kept, on the other trade unions and, particularly, unemployed workers organizations carried on regular and massive protest actions, including a series of hunger marches. Policy[edit] The Government did try to pass legislation, such as the Coal Mines Act 1930, which provided for a 7 1/2 hour shift in mines. Changes were also made to the taxation system that resulted in the poor paying less tax and the rich paying more.[6] The Unemployment Insurance Act of 1930 increased insurance benefits for certain classes of unemployed who had been on a very low scale, and included a provision that (except in trade disputes) claims for benefits could no longer be disallowed except on the authority of a Court of Referees. Altogether, an estimated 170,000 people were brought into benefit by the combined The Widows’ and Old Age Pensions Act was amended to cover some hundreds of thousands of additional pensioners, under improved conditions,[8] with the inclusion of widows between the ages of 55 and 70.[9] A The 1930 Labour budget provided for largely increased expenditure, contained measures to prevent tax health and welfare of children under the compulsory school age by the development of nursery schools and other services, and by April 1931, the amount of accommodation available in nursery schools was doubled. The number of staff in the school medical services was increased, while about 3,000 new places were provided in day and residential special schools for crippled or blind children The Unemployment Insurance Act of 1929 scrapped the “genuinely seeking work” clause in unemployment benefit (which was originally abolished by the First Labour Government in 1924, and reintroduced by the Conservatives in 1928), increased dependants’ unemployment insurance benef[23]its or did not qualify for them)[17] rose from 120,000 in 1929 to more than 500,000 in 1931.[18] for improving bad housing and clearing[20] slums were applied to the country districts as well as to urban areas.[7] The 1930 Poor Law Act abolished the workhouse test introduced a number of facilities in London parks such as mixed bathing, boating ponds, and swings and sandpits for children.[24]
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 02:09:58 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015