The Welfare State

After the war, which showed that many people were poor, liberal politician William Beveridge identified 5 issues that needed to be tackled to make a better Britain. To achieve his aims, Beveridge proposed the introduction of the welfare state. 

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In 1942, the government set the task of discovering what kind of Britain people wanted to see after the war to William Beveridge. He declared that there were five "giants" on the road to reconstruction." 

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1. Poverty

2. Disease

3. Ignorance

4. Squalor

5. Idleness

 

To defeat these "giants," he proposed setting up a welfare state with social security, a national health service, free education, council housing and full employment. 

In the years after the war, the Labour government tried to make this vision come true. 

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