The People's Budget Day

webmaster — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:40:46 +0100

On Thursday 29th April, 1909, Lloyd-George delivered his "People's Budget" to the Hosue of Commons. He said of it that is was "a war Budget. It is for raising money to wage implacable warfare against poverty and squalidness. I cannot help hoping and believing that before this generation has passed away, we shall have advanced a great step towards that good time, when poverty, and the wretchedness and human degradation which always follows in its camp, will be as remote to the people of this country as the wolves which once infested its forests."

It was one of the longest budget speeches on record, and Lloyd-George's voice gave out after three and a half hours (you see, he was a Land Value taxer!)

You can hear Herbert Asquith, Prime Minister at the time, in an early recording of a speech later in the year about the budget at the Liberal History Group's website, Winston Churchill's recorded speech on the budget, courtesy of the Library of Congress (MP3) - or in Real Audio format, and David Lloyd-George himself talking about the budget in July 1909 at the British Library website.

The 1909 Group - The People's Budget Day - Comments

The People's Budget Day