r/LibDem • u/Metropolitan_Line • 10d ago
Your favourite liberal policies through time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_Act_1908I 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.
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u/CarpeCyprinidae (Labour supporter) 10d ago
The first iterations of the welfare state came under a Liberal government and changed the landscape for poverty in the UK. Old Age Pensions Act 1908 was one of the first steps and the most influential.
National Insurance Act 1911 put a lot more of the modern approach into place for the first time.
Everyone credits (Liberal economist) Beveridge's 1940s report for the postwar welfare state but a lot of it was set in place 35 years earlier.
Basically everyone in this thread is talking about Lloyd-George's administration