Examine the extent to which liberal governments of 1906 -1915 succeeded in their aim of promoting greater national efficiency

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Examine the extent to which liberal governments of 1906 – 1915 succeeded in their aim of promoting greater national efficiency

National efficiency is Britain’s ability to compete economically, socially and militarily with rivals.  It is also about its ability to maintain the empire and its position of supremacy. Concern over poverty in Britain and increasing anxiety that Britain was in decline as a world power led to the idea that Britain had to improve her efficiency by taking steps to improve the quality of her workforce.

The 1906 General election saw a landslide victory for the Liberal Party, a party who had been out of office for 10 years.  The victory guaranteed many new faces among Liberal mps, some of whom were in favour of change.  Many Liberals realized the need for social reform.  They accepted that the time had come for the Liberal Party to turn away from laissez-faire; only when the state intervened could the nationwide problems facing the newly elected Liberals, like national efficiency, be effectively tackled.  This new idea of governing where there would have to be a role for the state was ‘New Liberalism’.

One of the reasons why the debate of national efficiency arose during the prescribed period was because of the difficulty of finding fit men to fight in the Boer War.  The Boer war left many in Britain with doubts about the quality of the working class male – and about his ability to perform the tasks expected of him, in the workplace and on battlefield.  Almost one third of those who volunteered in Manchester had to be turned away on the grounds of physical unfitness.  This was a major concern given Britain’s huge Empire at the time and the need to defend and maintain control of it.  

Also, the Birmingham chamber of commerce expressed fears about efficiency of workforce in 1907 due to poor diet and poor health.  This resulted in concerns about Britain’s position of economic prosperity as it was being threatened by the new industrial power of Germany and the USA.  A fit and healthy workforce was needed to compete effectively against them and increase productivity.

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In order to try deal with these national efficiency concerns two pieces of legislation was passed early in the new Liberal administration, though neither originated from the Liberal Cabinet.  The two acts that the Liberals introduced aimed at improving the health of the population to eventually improve the productivity (output per worker) of each individual.  The first of these, the Education (Provision of meals) Act of 1906, was the work of a labour backbencher.  This legislation was designed to allow local authorities to raise a ½ d rate in order to provide free school meals for destitute children, in ...

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