The budget had been introduced to raise taxes for the Liberal government’s radical social welfare programmes but Unionist opposition meant the Liberals increasingly saw the budget as a constitutional issue, a question of who ruled the country – the elected Commons or the unelected Lords. The Unionist peers regarded the budget as a socialist measure threatening the security of private property. They said they would pass the budget if the Liberals got an electoral mandate, so paving the way for the general election of January 1910 on the issue of popular democracy versus irresponsible privilege.