Who was defined as working class in Labour’s first Budget in 1924
The first ever Budget from a Labour Government was delivered by Chancellor Philip Snowden in late April 1924.
It did not hit the profits and wealth of the rich, a pattern maintained by later Labour Governments but it did offer some modest help to the working class. Snowden published his Budget speech as a pamphlet, The Housewives Budget, and we can get some idea on how working class was defined from this.
The working class breakfast included tea, coffee, chicory, sugar and dried fruits (raisins, figs and plums). Duty was reduced on all these items.
Snowden abolished duty on sweetened table waters which he said were largely consumed by children and the poorer classes. He kept the duty on soda water which the bosses put in their whisky and gin.
He also got rid of the duty on herb beer. Often associated with temperance (of which Snowden was a leading supporter) they were in fact alcoholic roughly at the strength of a modern table beer.
The duty on cheap seats in the cinema and music halls was reduced focused on those taken up by the ‘less well to do members of the community’. The impact of this on entertainment enjoyed by the working class was huge. Snowden estimated the cost as £4m a year at 1924 prices £204m at 2024 prices.
Snowden then defined the working class not by their jobs but by what they ate and drank and the entertainments they enjoyed
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