New Liberalism
Before 1906, the need for social reforms took a sharp turn. Charles
Booth’s report in 1902 revealed bad conditions and showed that poverty
affected around 30% of London.
Seebohm Rowntree added further details in his survey of York showing
an analysis of the recurring cycle of poverty.
This is one of the issues that deflected the Liberals away from their
policy of “laissez-faire” which was the government’s idea they should
interfere as little as possible in people’s lives.
They realized the need for more social reforms, especially left-wing
liberals; they were especially interested in helping the unemployed,
the old and the sick. With influence from Hobson and Hobhouse they
realized it was time to move away from laissez-faire.
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The reforms the Liberals were going to introduce rested on an
ideological base known as “New Liberalism”
This was a big step away from the traditional “Gladstonian” Liberalism
in that it changed the laissez-faire attitude that the Liberals had
used, to a more recognition in the states involvement in social
issues.
The Liberals introduced many measures to help out children. Starting
with the 1906 Education Act which gave local education authorities the
power to provide free school meals for needy children. However, this
act was not compulsory and so was not as successful as hoped. It also
ran into opposition and critics saw it as something parents should be
responsible for.
This act was followed by the 1907 Notification of Births Act which
enabled medical inspections of elementary school children, again this
was not a compulsory act but three-quarters of local authorities were
providing the medical treatment by 1914. In 1912 government grants
were made available to provide treatment and clinics began to be set
up.
1908 saw the introduction of the Children’s Act which meant that child