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The Geddes Axe was the drive for public economy and retrenchment in government expenditure recommended by a Committee on National Expenditure chaired by Sir Eric Geddes and with Lord Inchape, Lord Faringdon, Sir Joseph Maclay and Sir Guy Granet also members. Sir Eric Campbell-Geddes, GCB, GBE, PC, ( 26 September 1875 &ndash 22 June 1937) was a British James Lyle Mackay 1st Earl of Inchcape, GCMG, GCSI, KCIE ( 11 September 1852 &ndash 23 May 1932) was Alexander Henderson 1st Baron Faringdon CH ( 28 September 1850 - 17 March 1934) known as Sír Alexander Henderson 1st Baronet Sir William Guy Granet, GBE ( 1867-10-13 - 1943-10-11) trained as a barrister but became a noted railway administrator first as general manager of the

Contents

Background

During and after the Great War government expenditure and taxation increased. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Taxation per head per annum was £18 in 1919; £22 in 1920; and £24 in 1921. [1] In 1913-14 the Civil Services and Revenue Departments cost £81. 3 millions; in 1920-21 they cost £523. 3 millions; and in 1921-22 they cost £590. 7 millions. The Armed Forces cost around £77 millions in the year before the War and approaching £190 millions in 1921-22. The Armed forces of the United Kingdom, commonly known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, and sometimes legally the Armed Forces Similarly, the National Debt and other Consolidated Fund Services increased over the same time from £37. Government debt (also known as public debt or national debt) is Money (or credit) owed by any level of government either Central government 3 millions to £359. 8 millions. [2]

In 1921 the Anti-Waste League was formed by Lord Rothermere to campaign against what they considered wasteful government expenditure, and three of its candidates won by-elections from government supporters between February and June 1921. The Anti-Waste League was a Political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921 by Lord Rothermere. Harold Sidney Harmsworth 1st Viscount Rothermere ( 26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940) was a highly successful British Newspaper The Coalition Government of David Lloyd George came to power in the United Kingdom in December 1916 replacing the earlier wartime coalition under H In May 1921 HM Treasury sent all government departments a circular citing that in 1921-22 the cost of Supply Services would be £603 millions and that this should be reduced in the next financial year to £490 millions—economies totalling £113 millions. HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing Instead the response was a plan to reduce this expenditure by £75 millions. [3] The Prime Minister David Lloyd George appointed Geddes as head of a committee in August 1921 to find where economies could be found in various government departments for 1922-23. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom David Lloyd George 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor OM, PC (17 January 1863 &ndash 26 March 1945 was a British Statesman and the only [4] The committee's terms of reference were:

To make recommendations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer for effecting forthwith all possible reductions in the National Expenditure on Supply Services, having regard especially to the present and prospective position of the Revenue. The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all Economic and Financial Insofar as questions of policy are involved in the expenditure under discussion, these will remain for the exclusive consideration of the Cabinet; but it will be open to the Committee to review the expenditure and to indicate the economies which might be effected if particular policies were either adopted, abandoned or modified. [5]

Sometime after its appointment the Chancellor Sir Robert Horne requested that the committee find where expenditure could be reduced by £175 millions, which meant total expenditure down to £428 millions. Robert Stevenson Horne 1st Viscount Horne of Slamannan, GBE, PC, KC ( 28 February 1871 &ndash 3 September 1940 [6] The committee's reports were shown to the Cabinet in December 1921 and January 1922, where Cabinet committees reviewed and modified them before publication in February. [7] Three Reports were published:

The Axe

The Reports advocated economies totalling £87 millions; the Cabinet decided on savings amounting to £52 millions. [8] Total defence expenditure fell to £111 millions in 1922-23 from £189. 5 millions in 1921-22; total social spending (education, health, housing, pensions, unemployment) fell from £205. 8 millions in 1920-21 to £182. 1 millions in 1922-23. After 1922-23 defence spending increased to £114. 7 millions in 1924-25, and social spending—after dipping to £175. 5 millions in 1923-24—increased to £177. 4 millions in 1924-25. [9]

Notes

  1. ^ Henry Higgs, 'The Geddes Reports and the Budget', The Economic Journal, Vol. 32, No. 126. (Jun. , 1922), p. 252.
  2. ^ Ibid.
  3. ^ Ibid. , pp. 252-3.
  4. ^ John Ramsden (ed. ), The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century British Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 23.
  5. ^ Higgs, p. 253.
  6. ^ Ibid.
  7. ^ Peter K. Cline, 'Eric Geddes and the 'Experiment' with Businessmen in Government, 1915-1922', in Kenneth D. Brown (ed. ), Essays in Anti-Labour History (London: Macmillan, 1974), p. 101.
  8. ^ Ramsden, p. 264.
  9. ^ George Peden, The Treasury and British Public Policy: 1906-1959 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 169.

Further reading

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