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

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 ...

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... 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.