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Government expendeture: 302 million
(1913 in general) -
Period: to
War expenditure- 436 million.
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DORA
The defence against the relm act gave government power to control many aspects of peoples everyday life through censorship, ability to seize land and buldiongs, and taking over industry. -
Railway passed into control of the government
Railways were run under a unified system by the Railway Executive Commitee. -
National debt- 625 million
1914 in general -
Excess Profits Duty (EPD) introduced
The EPD was a tax on all profits which exceeded pre-war levels until 1921. -
Shell Scandal
Shortage of labours, delays of machinery deliveries and trade union restriction led to the difficulty to supply troops with armaments. Government factories and private manufacturers couldn't meet the demand of productions. As a result Asquith set up the Ministry of Munition. -
Ministry of munitions set up
To increase the production of armaments. Links with political as government had control. Profits limited. By the end of the war, there were 20,000 “controlled establishments”. £2,000 million of public funds used for the armament production. -
Women's March for Jobs
Organised by Christabelle Pankurst: there was much opposition in women taking mens jobs from the trade unions, as they were worried that when men came back from war, their jobs would have fallen into the hands of women permenantly.
Link: political. -
Munition of War Act
The Act gave the Ministry Munition under the control of Lloyd George more power. It imposed state control on National Shell Factories and controlled establishments and led to the control of sub-contractors' prices. As a result more than 20000 munition factories were directly controlled by the government. -
Miner's strike
After the miner's strike the government introduced price controls and export licensing. -
Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) set up.
This group of women were never included in front line combat, but they were stationed as nurses, cooks, or milirary aid in France. (set up at some point in 1916) Links with: social. -
Ministry of Shipping
Lloyd George set up the Ministry of Shipping under the control of John Maclay. -
Cultivation Production Act
The act empowered local Agricultural Commitees to force farmers to transform arable land to arable use. -
Corn Production Act
The act introduced a minimum wage for agricultural labourers and provided farmers with a guaranteed price for grain. -
Coal Controler was appointed
Although the mines remained under private ownership, the Coal Controler fixed profits at pre-war levels. -
Women's Land Army set up.
The Women's Landy Army was set up to encourage women to work as farm workers, in the hope that this would help the severe food shortages. This responded to the suffragette wish of the rights for women's jobs. Link to: social. -
Government takes control of shipping industry
As a result of the sinking of British ships the government took control of the shipping industry. This meant the requisitioning of ships for vital imports, coordinating activites of the docks and railways and the increasing rate of merchant ships eased the import crisis. -
German U-Boat attack on British ships
In April 1917, German U boats sank 1 in 4 of the Biriths ships in the Atlantic, which led to there being only six weeks of wheat supply left. This led to the government seizing more land to make food under the DORA legislation, and raising wages of industrial workers following strikes in 1917. They aimed to reduce bread consumption by one quarter and to be more careful with flour. Contributed towards rationing. Links with: political. -
Bread subsidy and rationing
A bread subsidy was introduced to ensure that the price of bread fell and new Food Control Commitees set up voluntary rationing schemes. -
Volunteer rationing introduced
In response to severe food shortages, the government offered volunteer rationing to the country, however very few people opted for it. This failed and lines for food shops got even longer. Links: social and political. -
National rationing
National rationing was introduced and sugar, meat, butter, jam and margarine were rationed. -
Period: to
War expenditure- 2,848 million.
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Taxation
70% of the extra expenditure during the war were added to the National Debt which rose from 625 million to 7980 million pounds. 30% were raised by taxation so that direct taxation stood at 6s in the pound (the eightfold increase since 1914). -
Self sufficiency.
By 1918, Britiain had become 80% self sufficent in food. Links with: political and social. -
National debt- 7,980 million
1918 in general -
Government expenditure 2,744 million.
1919 in general