The Liberal Adoption of a Policy of Social Reform in the Period 1906-1914

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The Liberal Adoption of a Policy of Social Reform in the Period 1906-1914 There are many issues to examine when answering the question of what prompted the Social reforms of 1906-1914 such as the changing ideas of the British public and national efficiency which was decreasing. In the period of 1906-1914, the social reform acts were passed in parliament by the Liberal government under Herbert Asquith PM, Lloyd-George MP and Winston Churchill MP. These acts laid the foundations of a basic welfare state on which our current welfare state was built from. These acts provided basic support for mothers and children, the old, sick and the unemployed. These changes were considered very radical considering they took place in Victorian England and helped the poor who by popular opinion should not receive help. With poverty spread right across England and ideas changing rapidly this meant that the view that people were in poverty because they were lazy and therefore worthless, became dated, mainly due to the works of Charles Booth and Seebhom Rowntree. Soon after the turn of the century new works were released on how people became poor, for example, Charles Booth’s ‘Life and Labour of People in London’ and Seebohm Rowntree’s ‘Poverty and a Study of Town Life’ (in York). Their ideas stated that a third of people who were living in Britain were living in poverty. In addition they were in poverty through no fault of their own. Instead they declared people were in poverty due to unfair social conditions, such as, low wages (due to urbanisation), old age or illness which meant that they couldn’t work anymore. In many cases there just were not ... ... middle of paper ... ... to the lib lab pact which benefited both parties and helped liberals to win the 1906 election. Therefore, social reform was necessary to counteract the development of the labour party, to try and show to the nation that they need not change party because the Liberal’s were reforming to meet the changing demands in society. In conclusion, the Welfare Reforms came about because of changing ideology and the founding of the Labour party, which promised more action on the growing awareness of poverty and exclusion of the working classes from political representation. The reforms were helped along the way by changing Liberal ideas and compassionate concerned leaders, but it appears that any party who wanted to win the support from the electorate had to change their ideas to match the changing of the public’s opinions.

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