The Liberal government of 1906-1914 under Bannerman and Asquith is one often recalled for its extensive reform of the welfare system in the United Kingdom. However, it was their political and constitutional reform which caused the most uproar, as they were arguably the most successful government of the 20th century in regards to changing the way Britain was governed. Their greatest achievement was the 1911 Parliament Act where they managed to get the Lords to sign a bill limiting their own power.…
The huge scale of the Liberal party's victory in the 1906 general election guaranteed many new faces among the ranks of Liberal MPs, in favour of change in the field of social welfare. Between the years 1906 and 1914, the Liberals took steps to improve the health standards and the living and working conditions of the lower class. The main area of peoples new legislation was targeted on was the working class under risk of poverty due to sickness or unemployment, their children and old age pensioners. In 1906, the Liberals passed the Trades dispute Act this reversed the Taff Vale Dispute of 1901, thus protecting union funds from claims for damages arising from strikes.…
In the period 1896 – 1915, the condition of Italy was relatively in a terrible state in many ways with various political, economic and social problems that hindered the country’s progress. Italy’s Liberal Governments during this period were generally very unsuccessful in dealing with these inherited and growing problems clearly contributing to the end of Liberalism in Italy. More so, the Liberal Government under the rule of Giolitti saw Italy progressing in some circumstances regarding the socio-economic concerns. Nonetheless, it is very comprehensible that the Liberal Governments lacked solving the problems that they faced.…
By the early twentieth century the Liberal Government was worried that Britain’s military capability and general military power was not as strong and it once was. Therefore, the Government’s concern over national security definitely influenced the decision for the reforms. However, there are three main factors that also need to be taken into account when deciding if concern over national security was the real reason for the reforms: the Social reasons, concerns for Britain’s Empire and the Political motive. The Social reasons played a large part in persuading the Liberals to reform. The detailed reports of Booth and Rowntree, and the evidence which was brought to light, highlighted that nearly a 1/3 of Britain’s population lived in poverty. This needed to be addressed by the Government. In addition, criticisms of the Poor Law effectively put pressure on the Liberals. The Boer War shone light on the ineffective and malnourished British Army. Britain’s embarrassing performance and recruitment in the War raised concerns over Britain’s overall military capability and the general health of Britain’s populace. In addition to this, the Liberal Government was concerned that Britain was losing its status as a major industrial power. Political motives for reform include the changing attitudes within the party, New Liberalism, the fear of the ever increasing popularity of the Labour Party and the party advantage which the Liberals would have received from introducing reform.…
The Liberal reforms were very significant in people’s lives. There were many reasons for why the liberals decided to reform Britain and these issues are highlighted in Booth and Rowntrees reports about people living below the poverty line. These reports tell us that if someone lost their job before the reforms they had to rely on their savings, family and friends, and the pawn brokers or depend on the poor laws which were the only sort of social protection they had. The government hardly ever stepped in to help people, the conservative government and member of the House of Lords all believed that if a person was poor that meant they were lazy; these reports discovered that that wasn’t the case and that in fact the majority of the poorest in society were born there. Some shocking statistics had shown that 11% of primary school children were malnourished and in 1900 the height for enlisting was reduced to 5 feet and even 50% who enlisted were in too ill health.…
When Harold Macmillan said in 1957 that Britain had “never had it so good” it was easy to see why he spoke with such optimism. The period of Conservative dominance brought many benefits to the British people including the end of rationing, full employment and a boom in the economy. However, in labour’s 1964 manifesto they described this period as “thirteen wasted years”. It seems difficult to believe that both could be true and in this essay I will be assessing the successes and failures of the Conservative government during this time.…
The general strike of May 1926 was not a success for those attempting to force the government to act to prevent wage reductions and worsening conditions for coal miners. Had the TUC been more prepared to strike and followed through with what the miners wanted them to do, the government would have been faced with a much tougher challenge. Despite this, even if the conservative government were faced with a tougher challenge, the preparations and subsequence actions taken by them were more than enough and the main reason for the failure of the strike.…
The New Labour Government came in to power in a ‘Landslide’ election victory. The Government was led by Clement Atlee and introduced reforms. The reforms were in Social Security, Health, Housing, Education and Employment.…
The Liberals created many reforms which impacted the lives of British people differing between aid and attention for well being of all ages and insurance for the unemployed or sick. This essay will investigate whether they were of positive or negative on the British people.…
The first of the Acts set up for the welfare of the workers was the Trade Boards Act 1909 which instigated the inspection of conditions in certain trades, effecting 200,000 workers who initially were mostly women. But this only covered the ‘sweated’ trades and ignored other workers such as farmers and on the whole there were very few inspections. So again while the Liberals were making some effort, the limitations of the act cancelled out the effects it was supposed to create.…
Gladstone’s ministry may deserve the reputation of a reforming one as he extended people’s rights to a certain extent. Gladstone improved the rights of the working classes through the Trade Union Act of 1871. The Act was significant as it meant that Trade Unions could now essentially function as an entity and it settled their future power within British Society. The fact that Gladstone had made improvements specifically for the Trade Unions shows that he was thinking of the lives of the working classes and it could be argued that he did his best to improve them. However peaceful picketing was outlawed by a reinstatement of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1825. This was a less liberal move on Gladstone’s part and limited the effect of the workers strikes. Henceforth limiting the power they possessed to make change therefore the reputation of the ministry could be questioned. Though reform is being made, it is not exactly benefitting the masses hugely. Moreover this Act was more beneficial to the working classes than the Friendly Society Acts, so in this sense Gladstone was trying to improve the statuses of the working classes hence forth making the reputation of the ministry justifiable. Additionally Gladstone passed the 1869 Municipal Franchise Act this gave female householders the vote in Municipal elections. This was the first time they were allowed to vote in any kind of election so the passing of this Act was highly significant. Though the Act wasn’t hugely significant at the time as there weren’t many female householders, the long term impact of it was to be highly significant. As this Act brought women into politics and it was going to lead to campaigns for women being able to vote at a Parliamentary level so the Act had a huge significance and shows that Gladstone was trying to reform the political system. Therefore Gladstone’s ministry did deserve the…
Perhaps, the most ‘revolutionary’ reform that Labour introduced was the NHS. Although there was liberal influence and consensus between the parties over welfare, the clear historical fact remains that Atlee’s Labour party introduced this. The public were in dire need of better healthcare – especially those who couldn’t afford it. Unfortunately, the majority of the population after the war were still living on a very small income and not many people in society could afford health services.…
When the war ended in 1945, the Labour Government, led by Clement Atlee, were faced with tackling numerous problems that existed in Britain. Their aim was to meet the welfare needs of the British people who, during the war, got used to support provided by the government. In 1942, a Civil Servant and an experienced worker on social welfare named William Beveridge constructed a report which would go on to become the basis for the Labour reforms. By 1951, Labour had introduced many different reforms aiming to tackle the problems that faced Britain. The Beveridge Report identified what is known as the 5 giants; these include disease, want, squalor, idleness and ignorance. Arguably the most important and successful were the acts introduced to tackle disease and want, but some may disagree. Nevertheless, it is clear that the Labour government met most of the needs of the British people between 1945-1951.…
The enfranchisement of the working classes meant the newly formed Labour party together with socialist ideologies were beginning to put pressure on the Government to introduce reform. (2/3)…
Indeed, a major reason for Labour’s victory was because Harold Wilson advocated a campaign for economic modernisation of Britain so the nation did not fall behind the excelling economies of European rivals such as West Germany. Economists raise the significant point that economic modernisation looks at the internal dynamics of a nation while referring to social and cultural structures and the adaptation of new technologies. The Conservatives failed in every social and economic aspect of this theory, as shown in 1963, as unemployment reached approximately 800,000 making a mockery of Macmillan’s, ‘never had it so good speech.’ The inability of the Conservative Party to economically modernise Britain led not only to their downfall in the 1964 election, but also to the collapse of Britain’s economy during this era. Economists point out that as a result of Conservative mismanagement of the economic sectors, Britain faced financial hardships, including a huge balance of payments deficit, which undeniably caused higher levels of inflation, causing the cost of living for ordinary British people to rise. Moreover, the economic boom of the late 1950s and the, ‘Age of Affluence,’ had reached its end, with great saturation in the markets for consumer goods. Inevitably, poor…