brookebough years + welfare state Flashcards
lord brookeborough/ basil brooke
PM of NI from 1943 to 1963 after JM andrews
ireland act 1949
passed after SI declared a republic. guaranteed that NI would remain part of UK as long as the majority of people in the north wanted it
beveridge report 1942
proposed system of social insurance to provide security to everyone in british society, regardless of class
-aimed to deal with 5 ‘giants’:
-disease, want, idleness, squalor, ignorance
-implemented by labour govt to create welfare state
introduction of the welfare state in britain
labour party under PM clement attlee came to power 1945 on promise to introduce welfare state in line with recommendations of beveridge report
-introduced reforms in education, health, social welfare -> ‘welfare state’
-govt would support people ‘from the cradle to the grave’
introduction of welfare state in NI
1946 agreed that NI would have same levels of welfare as rest of britain
-brooke agreed to raise taxes to british levels + submit budgets to british treasury for approval
-British govt agreed to subsidise welfare in NI -> british taxpayer paid most of the cost
(principle of parity)
-all citizens entitled to unemployment assistance + pensions
-free healthcare through NHS
-free secondary education
-standard of housing + sanitation improved
reforms in education
1947, new education system, education compulsory under 15
-all kids in last year of primary did ‘eleven plus’ exam
-top 25% of students got free places in grammar schools. if they did well they got university scholarships
-remaining 75% went to free secondary modern schools. got practical education + most left school at 15/14
-schools under control of local councils got full grants for building + maintenance. students did not pay fees. Catholics did not send their kids to these schools -> mostly protestant
-catholic schools got 65% of cost of building/maintenance as they refused to transfer to state control. 80% of students got scholarships but rest paid fees
impact of educational reforms
-gave bright working class students first class education that they couldn’t otherwise afford
-catholics gained more as there were more lower class catholics
-by 1960s reforms produced generation of well educated catholics that would lead the CRM e.g. bernadette devlin + john hume
-better funded state schools essentially became protestant only -> gap in education reduced job prospects for catholics + exacerbated poverty in catholic areas
-also helped strengthen religious divisions + distrust from an early age
number of students attending second level 1947-1952
doubled
% of students that were catholic in 1961
46.6% of primary students
total number of students by 1964
95,000
no. of students attending queen’s college by 1960
over 3,500
reforms in health
-NHS set up (national health service) in 1946 -> free medical care for all patients
-Hospitals authority took over supervision of hospitals
-problem over mater hospital in belfast -> run by nuns (sisters of mercy), feared hospital authority would interfere too much with their catholic ethos e.g. abortion + contraception
-unionists would not agree to special arrangement, mater didn’t get govt grants
reforms in social welfare
-system of national insurance set up 1948. all employed workers paid national insurance contribution + got generous children’s allowances, old age pensions + unemployment pay
-made northerners better off than people in the south
reforms in housing
-1943 report that 200,000 new homes were needed in NI
-1945 housing act gave local councils + NI housing trust power to clear slums + build new houses
-by 1960 they had built 113,000 houses across NI. given to poor people for low rent
discrimination in housing
housing trust gave houses on basis of need.
-some (12) of the 73 local councils in NI followed different policy e.g. those in Derry city, fermanagh, tyrone etc. in all of them catholics were the majority but unionists controlled the council (due to gerrymandering + household franchise)
-unionist councils often left poor catholic families in overcrowded slums while giving homes to less needy protestants
-made catholics very bitter + one of the key sparks of the CRM
