Liberal Reforms Essay

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Explain why Liberal Reforms were successful in appealing to the working class? From the emergence of new Liberalism after Gladstone, the concern for a healthier workforce and the strive to get more votes from the working class, the Liberals had to pass certain reforms that appealed to people like children, workers, sick and elderly. These reforms were overall very successful, as they were start of collectivism in our society and an end to the laissez faire attitude that the government once had. Liberals were very successful in achieving a significant degree of social change in Britain and paved the way for the establishment of a welfare state. The competition with other countries like America and Germany influenced our politicians to look deeper into the society and solve the social and economic issues that weakened our nation. First the government was concerned about the healthy workforce and better educated future generation therefore, the Liberals passed Acts for children. The first Act that was passed, was the School Meals Act in 1906 which allowed local authorities to provide needy children with a free daily meal. Local authorities were allowed to raise local tax by half a penny to help fund this scheme. This act was passed to improve health and ensure children were sufficiently educated. This act was certainly very successful in improving lives as by 1914 14 million children were receiving a daily meal allowing them to concentrate and therefore perform better in school. This led to a better economic future. However, because this act was only voluntary at first by 1912 over half the authorities did not provide meals. Also, many needy children missed out as it was difficult to determine eligibility and many were given out in error. This meant many children's lives were not improved on a short term, so it was successful to a limited extent. Another

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