effectiveness of labour reforms Flashcards
intro
context:
- surprise post-war election in 1945, the social reforms of the Labour government and Clement Atlee of 1946-1951 have sometimes been described as laying the foundations for the Welfare state
- In post-war Britain, there was a desire to improve the standard of living for all – this was furthered by William Beveridge’s report in 1942 which identified the 5 Giants of Poverty
factors: want, disease, ignorance, idleness
loa: , the Labour reforms of 1946-1951 dealt with the social problems of Britain to large extent
giant of want
k- National Insurance Act of 1946 was Labour’s attempt to provide a comprehensive and universal system which gave allowances to the unemployed, sick, retired and widows, standard rate of allowance, £2 for married couples
a- significant as we see that there was a safety net for those who were struggling in life in order to keep the out of abject poverty
a+ - kept at a fixed number for its duration and thus as inflation rose, things became increasingly expensive and this amount of money became less and less valuable and thus did not help keep people out of poverty
k- 48% of nat insurance going to pensions, also not in relation to inflation, amount of people struggling
Giant of want ev
criteria, vast number of people affected
(compared to disease)
- inflation meant did not provide enough
- similarly, disease, NHS didn’t provide free dentistry
+nat assistance act, non contributory, 1 mil people
-nhs in first year, 200mil prescriptions
giant of ignorance
k- Butler Education Act of 1944 was introduced with the aim to expand the patchwork system into a unified system and thus give education to all
a- important as it helped to give all members of society a way to try and be educated and thus gain qualifications which gives them a chance in the future
k- free secondary education to all those over the age of 11 after they sat the 11+ exam and also increased the leaving age to 15
a+ - 11+ and tripartite system which was introduced was seen by many as elitist resulting in a small percentage gaining a good education, unfair and contradictory to the Labour beliefs
giant of ignorance ev
criteria- provision of basic necessities
(compared with disease)
- tripart system was elitest and resulting in only a small percentage of the population having the best education
- nhs failed with provision of spectacles
+ reforms revolutionary- train 35,000 teachers by 1951 able to provide children with a sound education
+nationalised all the hospitals from being voluntary and private, this gave equal healthcare to everyone
giant of disease
k- National Health Service in 1946 which was meant to bring universal health care delivered at the point of need
k- NHS was meant to be comprehensive – meaning all demands and medical problems were met – and free as no patient would be billed for treatments or medicine
a- importance of this Labour reforms as it meant that everyone who needed treatment would be given it, thus increasing the health of the working class by a huge amount
a+ -huge cost which meant that the NHS had to start charging bills for dentistry and spectacles, taking away from their original aim to provide free healthcare
a++ - Anthony Bevan to get 90% of doctors to comply, he had to establish a system in which those in the private sector, or with money, could effectively “skip the queue” for quicker treatment
giant of disease ev
criteria- first of its kind, didn’t build upon an already established reform
- 90% of the public were happy with the NHS, it is clear that it was indisputably successful and improved the lives of the vast majority of the public
- most ambitious gov proposal of era, undoubtedly most successful, no other gov taken it down since
giant of idleness
k- introduced an ambitious nationalization program, planning to take control of key industries and services throughout the country
k- by 1949 the figure for unemployment was at 2.5%
an all-time low – especially impressive when Beveridge had said that it would be impossible to get unemployment below 3%
a- incredibly important reform as it meant that the government could control and support industries with workforces and protect jobs when necessary which increased job security and stability
a+ - had nothing to do with Labour reforms and instead was down to the fact that there was a depleted workforce anyway due to huge number of deaths in the war and thus it was not the reforms which had caused this unemployment
giant of idleness ev
criteria- not useful, had negative consequence co insiding too
policy of full unemployment used by Labour, led to inflation and payment problems thus dropping the value of the pound and causing more economic problems for government and Britain as a whole, making it more costly for the tax payer
shows labour cannot take credit for lowered unemployment but is responsible for the inflation
conc
In conclusion, the Labour reforms were effective to a large extent at effectively dealing with the social problems in Britain. They were definitely helpful in tackling poverty, ill-health, inequalities in education and short term unemployment. However their attempts at tackling housing fell well short of success and the other issues were far from solved. It is therefore clear that their reforms dealt effectively with the social issues to an extent but it cannot be argued that they completely solved the social problems of Britain. The NHS is clearly the most successful reform as it remains one of the most valuable aspects of the public sector. The giant of idleness was dealt with the well to an extent as they managed to bring unemployment to an all time low however it is questionable if this was due to the work of the labour government or external post-war factors. The giant of ignorance was dealt with to a moderate extent as the education act allowed less advantaged children to prosper however the 11+ tripart system with elitest values was not benefitting the majority of adolescents in Britain. The giant of want was dealt with the worst, although they gave grants to those in need, the money which was given was not enough to keep them out of poverty and thus did not solve the problems of poverty. There were obvious deficiencies in the welfare state. Overall, the Labour Reforms of 1946-1951 dealt with the social problems of Britain better than any government had before and did have a positive impact on the general public, therefore it is arguable that they did effectively deal with the social problems in Britain, however did not solve the social problems and there was still a long way to go.
