How important were fears over national security as a reason why the Liberal Government introduced social welfare reforms, 1906–1914 PDF

Preview

Summary

Download How important were fears over national security as a reason why the Liberal Government introduced social welfare reforms, 1906–1914 PDF

Description

How important were fears over national security as a reason why the Liberal Government introduced social welfare reforms, 1906–1914? Before the Liberal Government of 1906, Britain’s population was in serious poverty and experienced many wealth inequalities. There was a lack in jobs and a reluctance to work in the workhouses provided, due to social stigma. The attitudes towards the poor was very negative and they were blamed for the conditions they lived in. At that time the people believed in the ‘self-help’ philosophy of Samuel Smiles and argued that the reason people were in poverty was because they didn't work hard enough to lift themselves out of their current situation. The government also took a very laid back approach to this problem, which was called Laissez-faire. This meant that parliament did very little to support those that were worse off, in terms of welfare. However, the Liberal government at the time soon introduced social reforms throughout Britain. One of the reasons they introduced these reforms was due to the social surveys of Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree. Although there were many other reasons for the introduction of these reforms, including national efficiency, national security and municipal socialism, the most important reason was due to the social surveys of Booth and Rowntree. Before the Boer War, many men had signed up to fight the war but over 25% had been rejected purely based on the fact that they were not strong enough to fight. Many suffered from malnutrition and the government decided that something had to be done in order to keep Britain strong, especially with tensions rising in Europe the country had to protect its empire. As the war took 3 years to fight, which was longer than desired considering the vast power of the country, it was clear that if so many people are living a life with poor food and a poor lifestyle, it could ultimately make the country weak and threaten the country’s future. This factor pushed the government to introduce reforms as it provided a real shock to politicians as to how unhealthy and poor the population really was. However, it was only party the reason for reform rather than the whole reason as the surveys were more effective in providing the evidence of poverty because they showed how a majority of the population, including children and the elderly who were the weakest in society, in Britain lived, rather than showing the effects of poverty on men alone. To evaluate, when comparing this factor to the concerns over national efficiency, it is clear that the need to sustain a powerful and strong country and population was more important to the government as maintaining a large empire is difficult and costly. Also, controlling and protecting the Empire would be more vital to the survival of Britain’s economy as trade relations were strong between member countries, therefore, national security played a bigger part in the introduction of reforms than national efficiency. Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree were London businessmen who both carried out studies on poverty in London and York, proving that poverty was a big problem across the country. They both carried out their research by observing the lives of poorer families and workers across the cities. In 1889, Booth’s study was published and showed that over 35% of people in London lived in poverty, which was 10% higher than what was previously believed. Rowntree’s report also found that in York, 20,000 people lived in poverty. This was 30% of the population at the time. Both men found that the causes of poverty were indeed not self-inflicted but caused by outside factors such as illness, old age, unemployment and casual labour. These social surveys were partly important in influencing the Liberal government's decision to introduce social reforms as they were both highly respected figures

in British society, which brought the problem to the attention of others and forced the government to make changes as poverty was in higher rates than they expected. Although, many would argue that this factor was not the main reason for these reforms, it is evident that they were as many historians such as Peter Murray had stated that, “New Liberalism was given a powerful impetus by the revelations of Booth and Rowntree”, which shows that the surveys of Booth and Rowntree played a large part in the introduction of social reforms. The second factor that also contributed to the passing of the welfare reforms was national efficiency. Although Britain was the world’s leading superpower it faced competition from many well-developing countries like Germany and the US as they both had rapidly growing industries and they were also open to welfare reforms, which in turn made people question why Britain were not introducing these same reforms. Britain’s industrial trade had decreased to just 14% in 1913, which led to the realisation that reforms had to be passed in order to keep Britain’s economic efficiency and to remain as the world’s superpower. This factor was partly the reason for the Liberal’s creating social reforms as it prompted Lloyd George’s decision to pass these reforms and the competition with Germany also meant that many people of the public supported these decisions. However, this factor was not as much of a leading cause as the social surveys as the main cause for concern for the Liberal government was the efficiency of the workforce and industrial production rather than the wellbeing of the workers. If the fears and concerns over national efficiency were so big, then reforms would be passed as soon as the period when the industrial trades and efficiency of the country started to slow down in the 1870s. To evaluate, many historians ,again, like Peter Murray, argue that the surveys were more effective as the concerns over this factor were reinforced by the findings of the surveys. Showing that although the concerns over national security were partly the reason for the introduction of social reforms, it was not as crucial as the surveys of Booth and Rowntree. The last factor that contributed to the introduction of the social reforms in Britain was municipal socialism. Municipal  socialism was the intervention of government in local areas, providing them with better facilities such as gas and water which were supplied and ran by tax payments. Social reforms became very popular in poor towns and were continued in cities and towns throughout the country. This factor was very crucial to the introduction of social reforms as it was widely appreciated by the people living in these areas where there had been a state intervention such as Birmingham. In 1873,  the mayor of Birmingham introduced many developments to improve the lives of the poor, by providing clean water three times a week in a place previously dependent on a polluted well. This received much support from the public and pushed the government to make further reforms as state intervention proved helpful before, which shows it played a large role in introducing these reforms. However, this factor was not the whole reason for these reforms as these developments and provisions only  took place in some areas of the country and therefore did not benefit everyone, which means that not as many people were supportive of state intervention as they had not experienced it. In turn, as only a number of people were supportive of municipal socialism, it means that there was not as big of a push for reform and therefore, municipal socialism was only partly the reason for liberal reforms. When compared to the surveys of Booth and Rowntree, In conclusion, national security was not the most influential reason for the introduction of the Liberal reforms. The reports of Booth and Rowntree were almost the whole reason and the

most important reason that social reforms were introduced as they provided hard evidence for both the population the government and also because they were scientific studies with shocking results that could not be ignored. The rise of Labour was also partly the reason for reforms as this scared Liberals into helping the people as they feared being voted out by the working class. However the least influential reasons for the reforms were national security and efficiency as Britain was still among the top countries in the world in terms of wealth and industry. It is also evident that the rise of New Liberalism and municipal socialism combined, both played an almost significant part in the reforms as many state intervention had proved beneficial a number of times and many New Liberal politicians like Lloyd George genuinely wanted change. Yet, the social surveys of Booth and Rowntree provided the evidence for these reforms, again showing why these surveys were more than partly the reason for Liberal social reforms....