The United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, as a welfare state, was prefigured in the William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge was a British economist and social reformer. He is perhaps best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services (known as the Beveridge Report) which served as the basis for the post-World War II Welfare State put in place by the Labour government Report in 1942, which identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease.
Clement Attlee's 1945 Labour government pledged to eradicate these Evils. The government undertook measures in policy to provide for the people of the United Kingdom "from the cradle to the grave."
This policy resulted in massive expenditure and a great widening of what was considered to be the state's responsibility. In addition to the central services of Education, Health, Unemployment and sickness allowances and so on, the welfare state included the idea of increasing redistributive taxation, increasing regulation of industry food and housing (better safety regulations, "weights and measures" controls etc.)
The Welfare State was a commitment to health (in 1948 the National Health Service The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the four single-payer publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom, collectively or individually, although only the health service in England uses the name 'National Health Service' without further qualification. The publicly-funded healthcare organisation in Northern was created), education, employment and social security Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection, or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:.
However the initial foundation of the National Health Service did not involve building new hospitals but merely the nationalisation of existing municipal and charitable foundations. The aim was not to substantially increase provision but to standardise care across the country; indeed Beveridge believed that the overall cost of medical care would decrease, as people became more healthy and so needed less treatment. Instead the cost increased dramatically, leading to severe financial problems, and charges (for dentures, spectacles and prescriptions) were introduced in 1951 - by the same Labour government that had founded the NHS just three years earlier. Despite this, the principle of health care "free at the point of use" became a central part of the idea of the welfare state, which later governments critical of the welfare state were unable to reverse. The classic Welfare State period lasted from approximately 1945 to the 1970s, when policies under Thatcherism Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990. It also describes the ideology and wider political culture of the British government while Thatcher was Prime Minister between May 1979 and November 1 began to privatise public institutions, although many features of it remain today. This includes, but is not limited to, compulsory National Insurance contributions, and the provision of old age pensions.
Some primary reasons for the establishment of a welfare state include the reports drawn up by men such as Rowntree, son of the famous confectionery manufacturer, and Booth, into the levels of poverty in Britain in the early twentieth century. These reports indicated that in the massive industrial cities of the north, a high percentage of people were living below the level of subsistence, or the poverty line.
The deeper reasons for the establishment of the welfare state are complex. Certainly governments who had seen the revolutionary wave of revolts after the First World War World War I was a military conflict centered on Europe that began in the summer of 1914. The fighting ended in late 1918. This conflict involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of were keen to ensure that deep reforms reduced the risk of mass social unrest after the Second World War Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland ·. In addition, modern, complex industry had more need for a healthy and educated workforce than older industries had. Crucially, the experience of almost total state control during the Second World War had inured the population to the idea that the state might deal with wide areas of national life. Finally it seems likely that the social mixing involved in mass evacuation of children, and of service in the armed forces, had increased support for welfare among the middle classes.
Certainly, the Labour Party The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom, and is regarded as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales since 1920. Labour first surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s. It formed minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and from 1929 until 1931 and took, standing in 1945 on a programme of establishing a welfare state, won a very clear victory. However, since the 1980s the British government The politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland takes place in the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the UK government, the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales, and the has begun to reduce some provisions in England: for example, free eye tests for all have now been stopped and prescription charges for drugs have constantly risen since they were first introduced in 1951. (Policy differs in different countries of the United Kingdom.) Providing a Welfare State is however still a basic principle of government policy in the United Kingdom today.
Critics of the welfare state claim that, in relieving citizens of personal responsibility for their welfare, the government has inadvertently encouraged irresponsible and immature attitudes, with the result that three of the five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, and idleness, are still common. [1][2]
See also
- Social welfare Welfare or welfare work consists of actions or procedures — especially on the part of governments and institutions — striving to promote the basic well-being of individuals in need. These efforts usually strive to improve the financial situation of people in need but may also strive to improve their employment chances and many other aspects of
- National Health Service The National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the four single-payer publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom, collectively or individually, although only the health service in England uses the name 'National Health Service' without further qualification. The publicly-funded healthcare organisation in Northern
Housing:
- Public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by not-for-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable
- Housing estate A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance. Generally housing estates are monotenure.[citation
- Council house The council house is a form of public or social housing, primarily referred to in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to supply uncrowded, well built homes on secure tenancies at below market rents to primarily working class people. Council house development began in the late
External resources
References
- ^ The Welfare State We're in / James Bartholomew (2004) ISBN 1842750631
- ^ Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses / Theodore Dalrymple Anthony Daniels (born 1949), who generally uses the pen name Theodore Dalrymple and has also used the pen names Edward Theberton and Thursday Msigwa and yet another pen name, is a British writer and retired physician (prison doctor and psychiatrist) (2005) ISBN 1566636434
- Welfare State, Right to Life, and Capital Punishment in India / Parul Sharma, Sampark Publications,Calcutta/New Delhi (2005).
Categories: Politics of the United Kingdom Categories: Politics by country | European politics | United Kingdom
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