Liberal welfare reforms

The Liberal welfare reforms (1906–1914) were a series acts of social legislation passed by the British Liberal Party after the 1906 General Election. They represent the emergence of the modern welfare state in Great Britain. The reforms demonstrate the split that had emerged within liberalism, between modern liberalism and classical liberalism, and a change in direction for the Liberal Party from laissez-faire, traditional liberalism to a party advocating a larger, more active government protecting the welfare of its citizens. G.R. Searle argues that the outburst of activity had multiple clauses:

By implementing the reforms outside of the Poor Law the stigma attached to claiming relief was also removed.

During the 1906 General Election campaign neither of the two major parties made poverty an important election issue and no promises were made to introduce welfare reforms. Despite this, the Liberals led by Henry Campbell-Bannerman and later H. H. Asquith won a landslide victory and began introducing wide-ranging reforms as soon as they took office.

The Conservative government in office before the Liberals came to power passed the Unemployed Workmen Act 1905 and the Employment of Children Act in 1905. Slum housing was also cleared for new houses to be built. Much of this legislation was left for local authorities to implement – their attitudes affected whether legislation was fully implemented. In 1902 Conservatives passed the Education Act that provided funds for denominational religious instruction in Church of England and Roman Catholic schools. The Nonconformists who formed a major Liberal constituency, were outraged at the help to their theological enemies, but failed to repeal it.

A favourite goal of Protestant nonconformists was to sharply reduce the heavy drinking by closing as many pubs as possible. Asquith—although a heavy drinker—took the lead in 1908 by proposing to close about a third of the 100,000 pubs in England and Wales, with the owners compensated through a new tax on surviving pubs. The brewers controlled the pubs and organized a stiff resistance, supported by the Conservatives, who repeatedly defeated the proposal in the House of Lords. However, the "People's Tax" of 1910 included a stiff tax on pubs, and during the World War their hours were sharply restricted from about 18 hours a day to 5 1/2. Beer and liquor consumption fell in half from 1900 to 1920, in part because there were many new leisure opportunities.

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