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| 1929 |
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| Presbyterian Churches in Scotland united, creating the Church of Scotland. | 1 |
| The Local Government Act reorganized county councils, giving them wider powers, and reformed the ancient Poor Law structure by transferring the care of the poor to local government bodies. Relief was given directly through public assistance committees of the local councils. Local taxes on much agricultural land and industry were wholly or partially lifted to encourage greater stability, with the loss of revenue made up by central government grants out of general taxation. | 2 |
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| May 30 |
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| In the general election the Labour Party was victorious, securing 288 seats, against 260 for the Conservatives. | 3 |
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| Oct |
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| The Depression hurt Britain less severely than other countries, but the collapse of raw-material prices quickly closed down many of Britain's export markets (by 1931 exports stood at a little more than half what they were in 1929); the loss of confidence shut off new investment; and unemployment, persistently high, rose from over a million to 2.5 million by the end of 1930. | 4 |
| The Labour government responded with a coal mines act in 1930 that shortened the work day and reorganized the industry, the Greenwood Housing Act (1930), and the creation of agricultural marketing boards. A bill to nationalize London transport failed, however, as did Labour attempts to repeal the Trade Union Act of 1927. | 5 |
| The National government responded principally with the Protective Tariff Acts. Aside from a few large subsidies to the shipbuilding industry, for example, the government preferred a policy of benevolent support of industry's own recovery scheme. Parliament did pass the Special Areas Act (1934), however, which provided grants and public works projects to economically distressed areas. | 6 |
| After 1933 Britain witnessed a gradual recovery, which contributed in the middle of the decade to a rise in living standards for those with work and a drop in the unemployment rate. The index of industrial production stood 75 percent higher in 1935–38 than in 1910–13. | 7 |
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