United–Reform Coalition

The United–Reform Coalition, also known as the National Political Federation from 1935,^[1] was a coalition between two of the three major parties of New Zealand, the United and Reform parties, from 1931 to 1936. The Coalition formed the United–Reform coalition Government of New Zealand from its formation in September 1931, successfully contesting and winning the 1931 general election in December. The Coalition was defeated at the 1935 general election by Labour. The following year the coalition was formalised by the formation of the modern New Zealand National Party.

Primarily the coalition was formed to deal with the Great Depression which began in 1929. The Labour Party refused to join the coalition, as it believed that the only solution to the depression was socialism.

History

This article is part of a series on
Conservatism in New Zealand
Principles Agrarianism Economic liberalism Law and order Limited government Loyalism Monarchism Property rights Protectionism Rule of law Tradition
History Continuous Ministry Historic conservatism in New Zealand (pre–1930s)
Politicians Whitaker Atkinson Russell Massey Bell Coates Forbes Hamilton Holland Holyoake Marshall Muldoon Bolger Richardson Shipley Birch Copeland English Brash Key Bridges Muller Collins Luxon
Activists Ormond Farrar McCoskrie Slater Williams
Parties Active ACT New Zealand National Party New Zealand First New Conservatives Party Defunct Reform Party United Party Democrat Party New Zealand Party Christian Heritage Party Conservative Party Christian Democrats Progressive Greens Destiny New Zealand The Kiwi Party Focus NZ The Family Party
Organisations and media Auckland Future Citizens' Association Communities and Residents Coalition of Concerned Citizens Family First New Zealand Investigate Monarchy New Zealand National Front New Zealand Legion Taxpayers' Union Young Nationals
Related Christian politics in New Zealand Conservatism in Australia Liberalism in New Zealand Politics of New Zealand
Conservatism portal  New Zealand portal
v t e

Formation

The initial coalition between United and Reform had formed in September 1931,^[2] following the collapse of an earlier coalition between United and Labour. Fearing that splitting the anti-Labour vote would result in a Labour government even if it received fewer votes than United and Reform combined, the two centre-right parties formed a coalition and an election agreement. Part of the agreement was that all sitting members who support the coalition would in turn receive the official endorsement as coalition candidate. This pragmatic decision caused trouble in those electorates where the voters were not satisfied with the incumbent's performance, for example in the Wairarapa and Otaki electorates.^[3]

In the subsequent election, the coalition won 54.0% of the popular vote, compared to 34.3% for Labour. Although Reform won 28 seats to United's 19, United leader George Forbes remained Prime Minister.

Defeat

The government focused primarily on getting New Zealand out of the depression by cutting government spending and thus balancing the national budget. It dealt with widespread unemployment by initiating relief work, which involved compelling the unemployed to work on a range of projects ranging from useful public works to pointless activity. The government was widely seen as heartless, encapsulated by the commonly believed but probably untrue story that Prime Minister George Forbes had told a delegation of unemployed men to go and eat grass. In the 1935 election, Labour won 46.1% of the popular vote, while the coalition won only 32.9%. However the result in terms of seats was an electoral wipeout, with Labour winning 53 seats to the coalition's 16. A further eleven seats were won by minor parties and independents.

Following their defeats, the United and Reform parties merged to become the National Party. The 1931 election and 1935 election showed the hazard of vote-splitting. In 1931 only 24 of 53 electorates where Labour stood had only one anti-Labour candidate: e.g. Auckland West had H. R. Mackenzie from United and John Allum from Reform, who together got little more than half the votes of the winner – Mickey Savage. And in Auckland East there were four anti-Labour candidates and the seat went back to Labour.^[4]

Electoral results

See also

• Governments of New Zealand

Notes and references

Citations

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
• Bassett, Michael (1982). Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911–1931. Auckland: Historical Publications. ISBN 0-86870-006-1.