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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > How far did the Liberal Reforms of 1906-1914 create a welfare state?

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"We shall draw a line under which we shall not allow people to live and labour."

(W.S. Churchill)

A couple of points...

• the proper Welfare State of the 1940s was designed to aid everyone irrespective of class, money, etc. and was a complete reform.

• The New Liberal Welfare Reforms were designed to fix contemporary problems of the poor and were not designed to be as wide ranging and encompassing.

Is this a significant difference? (I'll leave you to work this one out for yourself... )

• Some historians (Hay, Searle) see the reforms as a political attack on the Conservative party. The Tories had had a lot of working class votes. By making policies which appealed to the working classes, they would gain W/C votes.

• Others (Bentley, Pelling) see them as a direct response to pressure such as the "influential" report of the Physical Deterioration Committee after the Boer War.

Do you agree with either of these positions?

• Welfare Capitalism; several of the New Liberal reforms such as National Insurance and Labour Exchanges were designed to aid the ordinary W/C male worker, upon whom the country's economy depended. By assisting the male breadwinner, the whole family would be provided for.

• The Welfare State was designed to treat everyone equally, not just the breadwinner; it gave support to all via the NHS, etc., and wasn't designed to give the benefits to the leading figure in the household.

Is this a fundamental difference?

If you want to be really clever:

• New Liberalism was based on Liberal ideas;
• Welfare State on Socialist ones.

Is this a fundamental difference?

(The above is all undergrad uni level stuff; there's no reason why you can't look at it at AS. Pick and choose as much of that as you want!)

Some useful facts and figures

PMs

Campbell-Bannerman, 1905-08

Asquith, 1908-15.

Liberals in government 1905-1915.

General Elections

1906: Liberals 400 seats; 49% total vote. Tories 157 seats. (NB: Liberals aided by the Lib-Lab pact, 1900)

1910: Liberals 275 [43.2%], Tories 273.

1910 (again...): Liberals 272 [43.9], Tories 272.

Acts and Bills

1906 Trades Disputes Bill

1906 Education (Provision of Meals) Act

1907 Education (Administrative Provisions) Act [Free health checks in schools]

1908 Old Age Pensions Act

1911 National Insurance Act.

Timeline

1904: Report of Physical Deterioration Committee.

1906: Liberal Electoral landslide.

1906 --> Reforms.

1908: Asquith becomes PM.

1910: Lords reject Lloyd George's People's Budget; elections called as a result.

Useful Books

• Peter Clarke, "Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-2000"
• Lloyd, "Empire to Welfare State Britain 1906-85", Oxford UP.

Comments

These notes are aimed at A Level history students.

Originally written by FadeToBlackout on TSR Forums.