The post-war Coalition government's failure, under the leadership of David Lloyd George, to implement the recommendations of the Sankey Commission to nationalise the coal industry led to a collapse of support for the Liberals in the South Wales coalfield.
In 1898, David Lloyd George created the Welsh National Liberal Council, a loose umbrella organisation covering the two federations, but with very little power.
In addition to the failure of the Coalition Government to implement the Sankey recommendations on the coal industry, the party was regarded as maintaining a focus on pre-war issues and controversies, and being an essentially rural movement.
Emrys Roberts and Megan Lloyd George were increasingly close to Labour on issues such as the formation of the National Health Service.
Clement Davies, who became party leader in 1945, and had represented Montgomeryshire since 1929, had been a member of the Liberal faction led by Sir John Simon in the 1930s but had subsequently become more radical in his views.
Finally, the University of Wales seat (abolished in 1950) as held by the academic Professor W. J. Gruffydd, who had defeated former Plaid Cymru president Saunders Lewis in a fiercely contested by-election in 1943.
[8] The 1951 General Election was the end of an era for Welsh radical Liberalism as both Lady Megan Lloyd George and Emrys Roberts lost their seats in Anglesey and Merioneth respectively.