The History of the welfare state in the United Kingdom covers the growth of welfare programs and programs for the poor since 1801, with emphasis on the establishment of a welfare state in the 20th century. For recent trends ses Welfare state in the United Kingdom.
The Liberal Party under Henry Campbell-Bannerman rallied voters around the traditional platform of free trade and land reform and led them to the greatest electoral victory in Liberal Party history.[1] Key reformers included H. H. Asquith the prime minister from 1908; David Lloyd George at the Board of Trade, and Winston Churchill at the Board of Trade and Home Secretary. They focused on the "People's Budget" of 1909 that proposed to fund expanded social welfare programmes with new taxes on land and high incomes. It was blocked by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords, but eventually became law in April 1910.
Almost half of the Liberal MPs elected in 1906 were supportive of the "new liberalism", which advocated government action to improve people's lives.[2]
Liberals in 1906–1911 passed major legislation designed to reform politics and society, such as the regulation of working hours, National Insurance and the beginnings of the welfare state, as well as curtailing the power of the House of Lords. Women's suffrage was not on the Liberal agenda.[3] There were numerous major reforms helping labour, typified by the Trade Boards Act 1909 that set minimum wages in certain trades with the history of "sweated" or "sweatshop" rates of especially low wages, because of surplus of available workers, the presence of women workers, or the lack of skills.[4]
At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and the machine-made lace and finishing trade.[4] It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the Trade Boards Act 1918. Under the leadership of David Lloyd George Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers.[5]