Your favourite liberal policies through time.

[u/Metropolitan_Line]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Act_1908

I want to find out what Lib Dem/Liberal policies through time liberals in this sub like the best. It doesn’t necessarily have to have been an act of parliament, it could have been a manifesto pledge for example, or a policy adopted by the party membership.

One of my favourites (though I know this example is a little old) is the Children Act 1908 - an important milestone in the rights of young people, introducing Juvenile Courts (as they were back then), restricting capital punishment and giving other protections to children. Though these might not seem revolutionary by today’s standards, they would have been significant for the time, and I think is an excellent example of the liberal tradition.

[u/Grantmitch1]

Hmm.

From an actual Liberal politician I would say a series of bills by David Lloyd George's government that introduced the precussor to the modern welfare state. Lloyd George's government introduced medical and unemployment insurance, pensions, minimum wages for certain jobs, among other things, paid for through taxes on high incomes and land.

Gladstone had a number of important reforms as well including secret voting, expanding the franchise, creating a national education system, moving toward a meritocratic civil service, establishing a legal framework for trade unions, among other things.

A liberal policy from a Conservative prime minister: Sir Robert Peel's repeal of the Corn Laws and the movement towards free trade.