Conciliation Bills

After the January 1910 election, the Parliamentary Franchise (Women) Bill was drafted by a Conciliation Committee for Woman Suffrage, ultimately comprising 54 Members of Parliament (MPs — 25 Liberal, 17 Conservative, 6 Labour and 6 Irish nationalist), with Lord Lytton as chair and H. N. Brailsford as secretary. While the minority Liberal government of H. H. Asquith supported the bill, a number of backbenchers, both Conservative and Liberal, did not, fearing that it would damage their parties' success in general elections. Some pro-suffrage groups rejected the bills because they only gave the vote to propertied women; some MPs rejected them because they did not want any women to have the right to vote. Liberals also opposed the bills because they believed that the women whom the bills would enfranchise were more likely to vote Conservative than Liberal.

Conciliation Bill 1910

Prime Minister Asquith agreed to give the bill parliamentary time after pressure from the Cabinet. The bill passed its first reading. It passed a second reading on 12 July by 320 votes to 175. However, for committee stage it was referred to a Committee of the Whole House rather than to a public bill committee, which in effect meant it would never be passed within the parliamentary session. Further parliamentary progress became impossible on 18 November 1910, when Asquith announced a dissolution of parliament for 28 November and ensuing general election in December. The Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) saw this as a betrayal, and their protest march later on 18 November became known as Black Friday.