Intoduction And Conclusion Flashcards
Intro
Prior to 1906, many politicians acted under the principles of laisse- faire the popular idea that individuals were responsible for their own wellbeing instead of state inversion. In 1906 people started to believe in extreme poverty. This led to the liberal party introducing several social reforms after their huge election victory of 1906 under the new leadership of henry Campbell bannerman. The reports of Booth and Rowntree were the most important reason for the liberal’s national welfare reforms from 1906-1914. However, there were other factors such as the rise of the labour party, new liberalism, municipal socialism, and fears over national security.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the reports of Booth and Rowntree were the most important factor encouraging liberal reforms. Whilst the liberal’s passed reforms due to the threat of labour taking away their working-class voters the reports of Booth and Rowntree made all classes aware of the poverty levels in Britain and what could be done to fix it. Even though, Concerns over the security of the nation can be clearly seen in reforms such as the provision of school meals, it does not explain why the costliest reform was pensions. Booth and Rowntree were more important than Concerns over the security of the nation as they identified the causes and the cures for poverty. The new liberals thought that there should be a limited state intervention to help the poorest society, getting rid of laisse Faire attitudes. However, they got this idea from Booth and Rowntree’s reports that showed that a great deal of Britain was living in Poverty, which makes this a less important factor. Whilst it can be argued that municipal socialism was important in convincing the liberals to pass reforms as the liberal government could look at Birmingham as a positive example of what happened when the government Booth and Rowntree’s Reports were more important as they made it impossible for the government to do nothing about poverty as the reports were based on statistics and key facts, making it difficult to argue against.
