Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 - Legislative History

Legislative History

The Act was drafted by Haldane, in the winter of 1906, with the assistance of John Kemp and Frederick Liddell and the support of Douglas Haig. A final draft was sent to the King on 12 January and all that remained was to ensure its passage through the House of Commons. He was confident of the support of the Prime Minister, and privately discussed the bill with Arthur Balfour, the Leader of the Opposition, in order to ensure there would not be significant Conservative Party opposition. At the time, the governing Liberal Party was mostly absorbed with problems of social reform, and it was not guaranteed that there would be time to present a defence bill. At the beginning of the year, however, Haldane discovered that a bill scheduled for the session was not yet ready, and offered "a small Bill of his own which might conveniently fill the gap".

On 25 February Haldane introduced the new Army Estimates, which showed a saving of slightly over two million pounds, and discussed the forthcoming reforms, stating that the critical problem was to ensure continued recruitment for line regiments from the Militia and to provide financial support for the stability of the Volunteer units. A memorandum issued on the same day expanded on these points, and suggested that in the event of a future war, with the Expeditionary Force sent abroad, the Territorial Force would be mobilised as an organisation for "support and expansion", and after six month's training and home defence duties, would be able to volunteer for overseas service.

The bill itself was formally introduced to the House of Commons on 4 March 1907. The subject was debated in the House of Lords on 21 March, where the proposed changed to the Militia were strongly opposed. The bill had its second reading in the Commons on 9, 10, and 23 April, and was passed into Committee, where it was discussed at some length over nine days. The opposition to the bill, whilst verbose, was not very effective. Hugh Arnold-Forster, the previous War Secretary, argued that the Territorial Force would prove ineffective in opposition to conscripted Continental armies, whilst the Labour Party objected generally to any increase in military strength. Most of the opposition came from partisans of the existing system; as well as the implacable opposition from the Militia element, supporters of the Yeomanry objected to the reduction in their daily rates (from 5s. 6d. to 2s. 8d.), whilst Sir Howard Vincent led the opposition from the Volunteers against the stricter control of the new regulations. However, the strong Liberal majority saw off all opposition, and the bill moved for a third reading on 19 June, where it passed with 286 votes to 63. The opposition was mainly led by the Irish MPs, who voted against the government for reasons unrelated to the bill, and some of the Labour Party; most of the Unionists, save a few like Vincent or Charles Dilke, abstained rather than oppose.

The bill then passed to a third reading in the House of Lords, where it took a few minor amendments, but escaped any significant opposition barring a brief dispute over the status of Cadet units; it was eventually agreed that they could be supported by the associations provided that no funding was to be provided from money voted by Parliament. This amendment was accepted by the Government, and the bill passed smoothly to royal assent.