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The Labour Government, 1945 - 51

Founding the Welfare State

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1930s Government reforms: what are these?

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Why was a welfare state needed?Explain each of the following:1. Liberal Reforms ineffective2. Long term decline of industry3. Depression of 1930s4. WWII

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What is a welfare state?Explain :• Opposite to ‘laissez-faire’• 1906 Liberal idea was for ‘level playing field’ at the

start of life• + a ‘safety net’ if things went very badly wrong.• Welfare state = Government support from ‘cradle

to the grave’

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Who created the Welfare State?

“The post 1945 welfare state was less a Socialist achievement than the ending of a process owing much to the Liberals and Conservatives.”

Is this an acceptable interpretation of the facts?

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Key Questions:

How new were the Labour reforms of 1945?

How successful were the Labour reforms of 1945?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8WvlBrQ0g

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Why did WWII help create a Welfare State?

• National Government under Churchill• Winning = total war• government ‘managed’ & ‘planned’ whole

economy. • Keynes – job in Treasury

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Why did WWII help health?Needed healthy workers and soldiers:• Ministry of Food = rationing.• = healthy diets• Emergency Milk & Meals scheme, 1941, for expectant

mothers and children.• free immunisation programme began.• Unemployment Assistance Board = help elderly.• Free Hospitals for war wounded• Evacuation• Glasgow Health Service begun

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Why did WWII end Laissez-faire?• People more used to planned economy• Wanted to re-build war damage• Planned also to re-build damaged society of 1930s• = Beveridge reporthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2DhvTCuK_s

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The future?

• Coming on top of the 1914 war, the Second World War stretched the UK to its limits.

• Despite, or perhaps because of this, there grew up a determination which was national and cross-party in its unity.

• The British people were not going back to the hardships of the Thirties. They were going forward to something better.

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Cont’d

The Labour Party:

“After the war, the national war effort must be turned to the building of a new Britain. While planning the war, the Government must plan for peace and a new society.”

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Who was William Beveridge?

• Liberal party member• A lawyer.• 1909 Director of Labour

Exchanges.• Influenced by Fabians.• An authority on

employment insurance.• 1937 master of University

College, Oxford

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What was the Beveridge Report?

Beveridge asked to report on National Insurance

• But much wider…• = “Five Giants” = problems for government to

deal with• As a Liberal he expected people to look after

themselves 1st, so this was a ‘safety net’ in case of problems

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What were the Five Giants?

• Want (poverty)• Disease• Ignorance (illiteracy, innumeracy, etc.)• Squalor (bad living conditions)• Idleness (unemployment)

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What were the Five Giants?

• X5 • + translation

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What did Beveridge propose?1. One National Insurance scheme for all.2. Payment by all into a national insurance fund through

weekly contributions from wages.3. Unemployment benefits for as long as needed.4. Old age pensions, maternity pay, funerals, injury

compensation5. No means testing. All payments in and out at

the same rate for everyone.6. family allowances.7. National Health Service

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What did Beveridge propose?1. One ...2. Payment by all through...3. Unemployment benefits for ...4. + 3 more benefits5. No ...6. family ...7. For sick =

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Why was this unpopular with some?

Explain the following points of view:1. Liberal Laissez Faire adherents attacked

this “…spendthrift, destroying every vestige of self-reliance and self-help.”

2. Businessmen.3. Churchill = cost too much

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Why was this unpopular with some?

Explain the following points of view:1. Liberal Laissez Faire adherents attacked

because...2. Businessmen because...3. Churchill = because...

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Most people were positive…• Labour party• public reaction=“ …for a week or two the war news tended to take

a back seat.”• Politicians and Trade Unionists wondered if they

“…could afford to face the post-war period without [the Beveridge report].”

• Churchill’s Conservatives lost 1945 election• http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/clips/zbhpyrd

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How new were these reforms?Answer : Not new:

• Liberal reforms, 1906-14• Growth in government ministries• Piecemeal social reforms in the 1920s and

1930s –eg housing• Wartime government• e.g. the 1944 Education Act. Secondary

education for all from 12 to 15.• Eg. Family Allowances Act - 5sh / wk

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #1 Insurance

• = WANT• 1946 - a National Insurance scheme which gave Old Age

Pensions for men over 65, women over 60, unemployment benefit and sickness pay.

• Cost 5% of pay, took 10 yrs to be eligible• Pensions not enough to live on• 1946 - Industrial Injuries Act –covered all workers, centrally

funded• 1948 - National Assistance Board- paid for those without NI

support- centrally funded & worked

Q: explain why centrally (government funded) support was better than getting local councils or businesses to fund it?

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #2 NHS

• = DISEASE• Plan=• Universal, free care “at point of need”• Added 50% of working population to health cover

• Difficult to persuade Doctors to join: 90% against• Bevan Minister Succeeded – 90% of Doctonrs joined when

started July 1948.• Cost huge: 1948 planned £134 million, by 1950 £356

million• Introduced prescription charges & glasses costs 1951

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #2 NHS

• = DISEASE• Plan=• Universal, free care =• Added ___ of working population to health cover

• Difficult to persuade Doctors to join: • Bevan Minister Succeeded – • Cost huge: 1948 planned £___ million, by 1950 £• Introduced ....1951

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #3 Housing

• = SQUALOR• Many war homeless, eg 7/12000 Clydebank homes Aimed

200,000 houses a year, built 55,400• Huge shortages of supplies post war• so - built prefabs.• Government did set high standards for new council houses.

Rent 1/3 of private landlords• 1946 - New Towns Act = replace slums with Glenrothes &

Cumbernauld. 14 towns set up by 1951• 1947 Town and Country Planning Act.

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #3 Housing

• = SQUALOR• Many war homeless, eg 7/12000 _____homes • Aimed 200,000 houses a year, built ....• Huge shortages of ...• so - built ....• Government did set .... • Rent ____of private landlords• 1946 - New Towns Act =• 1947...

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #4 Child Welfare

=IGNORANCE• RA Butler (Cons) 1944 Education Act now in force.• Original aims = ‘equality of opportunity”• Grammar & Technical schools established.• 11+ Entrance exam- mainly passed by middle class kids• Intake to universities increased.• 1948 - Children’s Act aided children in special care. Led to

the appointment of Childrens’ Officers.

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #4 Child Welfare

=IGNORANCE• RA Butler (Cons) __________Act now in force.• Original aims = ‘...• _______________schools established.• 11+ Entrance exam- mainly passed by ...• Intake to universities ...• 1948 - Children’s Act aided .... Led to the appointment of

Childrens’ Officers.

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #5 Employment

=IDLENESS• Aimed for full employment• Nationalised businesses• Profits then would go to workers rather than bosses• 8% unemployment expected, but went down

sharply• ? Labour, or just need to re-build after war

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How successful were the Labour reforms? #5 Employment

=IDLENESS• Aimed for ...• Nationalised ....• Profits then ...• ___% unemployment expected, • but went ....• ? Labour,• or ...

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Were the reforms successful? NO

• Correlli Barnett = too expensive, needed to put industry first, not ‘nationally efficient’

• Most help to sick & old & poor– so no economic benefit

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Were the reforms successful? NO

• Socialist Utopia was not created.• Poverty had been reduced but not eliminated.• Nat. Health Service ‘…applied a bandage

instead of …radical surgery…’.• M/class better at working the system than the

w/class.• Government spending on Grammar schools

rose - m/class benefited.

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Were the reforms successful? NO

• Bevan made too many compromises with the BMA: private health care survived.

• The war gave birth to the Welfare State. It created a national consensus pro reform.

• Labour should have concentrated upon improving the industrial base before welfare.

• “Labour’s achievement was more one of modernising, improving and greatly extending an existing structure than of building an entirely new edifice.”

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Were the reforms successful? YES

• Huge achievements in difficult times

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Were the reforms successful? YES• Completed Liberal Reforms• The Five Giants were now under attack.• The state now provided a safety net.• Rowntree discovered poverty in York had

fallen from 36% in 1902 to 2% in 1950.• Did this despite industrial decline • & despite wartime loss of national wealth

and markets.

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Were the reforms successful? YES

• Beveridge Report = suggestions only• Labour actually created the laws.• Conservatives would probably not have

done the same. But left alone what Labour had created.