The United–Reform Coalition, also known as the National Political Federation from 1935, was a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

between two of the three major parties of New Zealand, the

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

and

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill#The Yorkshire Associati ...

parties, from 1931 to 1936. The Coalition formed the

Government of New Zealand , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

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 The New Zealand National Party ( mi, Rōpū Nāhinara o Aotearoa), shortened to National () or the Nats, is a centre-right political party in New Zealand. It is one of two major parties that dominate contemporary New Zealand politics, alongside ...

. Primarily the coalition was formed to deal with the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

which began in 1929. The Labour Party refused to join the coalition, as it believed that the only solution to the depression was

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

History

Formation

The initial coalition between United and Reform had formed in September 1931, following the collapse of an earlier coalition between

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 and electorates. 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 and showed the hazard of vote-splitting. In 1931 only 24 of 53 electorates where Labour stood had only one anti-Labour candidate: e.g. had H. R. Mackenzie from United and

John Allum Sir John Andrew Charles Allum (27 January 1889 – 16 September 1972) was a New Zealand businessman and engineer, and was Mayor of Auckland City from 1941 to 1953. Biography Early life and career Allum was born in London and educated at Goldsm ...

from Reform, who together got little more than half the votes of the winner - Mickey Savage. And in there were four anti-Labour candidates and the seat went back to Labour.

Electoral results

Notes and references

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:United Reform Coalition Governments of New Zealand New Zealand Liberal Party Reform Party (New Zealand) 20th century in New Zealand 1931 establishments in New Zealand 1935 disestablishments in New Zealand Cabinets established in 1931 Cabinets disestablished in 1935