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How Effective Were the Social Reforms of 1906 Essay Example

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How Effective Were the Social Reforms of 1906 Essay Example
How Effective Were The Liberal Reforms In The Period 1906-1914? The liberal party led by Henry Campbell Bannerman won a landslide victory over the conservatives in the 1960 general election. They won 377 seats giving then an enormous majority of 84 over all other parities combined. Bannerman retired in 1908 and his successor Herbert Asquith, who brought about an increasing shift towards reform, originating from the initiatives of Lloyd George the Board of Trade and Winston Churchill the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Both of these characters were very influential in the idea of New Liberalism. New Liberalism was completely committed to radical, social reforms. This is exactly what the government tried to enforce between the years 1906-1914 and the ‘lib-labs’ (radical liberals) passed several reforms to try and liberalise Britain from the previous conservative rule.
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.
The government introduced the Education Act in 1906. This meant that local education authorities were providing school meals for destitute children by levying an additional rate of halfpenny in the pound. Although the Act was seen as progressive, the fact that it was not made compulsory argues if it was effective enough. By 1911, less than a third of all education authorities were using rates to support school meal provision and it had

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