Editing Edwardian era (section)

===The Liberal reforms===
{{Main|Liberal welfare reforms}}

[[File:Ten Years of Toryism.jpg|thumb|left|Liberal poster for 1906 election]]

The [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] under [[Henry Campbell-Bannerman]] rallied Liberals around the traditional platform of free trade and land reform and led them to [[1906 United Kingdom general election|the greatest electoral victory]] in Liberal Party history.<ref>Goldman, Lawrence. "Oxford DNB theme: The general election of 1906" [http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/themes/95/95348.html online]</ref> The [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] was overshadowed by his frontbench, most notably [[H.&nbsp;H. Asquith]] at the Exchequer, [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Edward Grey]] at the Foreign Office, [[Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane|Richard Burdon Haldane]] at the War Office and [[David Lloyd George]] at the [[Board of Trade]]. Campbell-Bannerman retired in 1908 and was succeeded by Asquith. He stepped up the government's radicalism, especially in the "[[People's Budget]]" of 1909 that proposed to fund expanded social welfare programmes with new taxes on land and high incomes. It was blocked by the Conservative-dominated [[House of Lords]], but eventually became law in April 1910.

[[File:Asquith Q 42036.jpg|thumb|right|[[H.&nbsp;H. Asquith]]]] 
Almost half of the Liberal MPs elected in 1906 were supportive of the "[[New liberalism (ideology)|new liberalism]]", which advocated government action to improve people's lives.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rosemary Rees|title=Britain, 1890–1939|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YgtH8GFcFSYC&pg=PA42|year=2003|page=42|publisher=Heinemann |isbn=9780435327576}}</ref>

Liberals in 1906–1911 passed major legislation designed to reform politics and society, such as the regulation of working hours, [[National Insurance]] and the beginnings of the welfare state, as well as curtailing the power of the House of Lords. Women's suffrage was not on the Liberal agenda.<ref>Ian Packer, ''Liberal government and politics, 1905–15'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).</ref> There were numerous major reforms helping labour, typified by the [[Trade Boards Act 1909]] that set minimum wages in certain trades with the history of "sweated" or "sweatshop" rates of especially low wages, because of surplus of available workers, the presence of women workers, or the lack of skills.<ref name="Sheila Blackburn 1991">Sheila Blackburn, "Ideology and social policy: the origins of the Trade Boards Act." ''The Historical Journal'' 34#1 (1991): 43–64.</ref>

At first it applied to four industries: chain-making, ready-made tailoring, paper-box making, and the machine-made lace and finishing trade.<ref name="Sheila Blackburn 1991" /> It was later expanded to coal mining and then to other industries with preponderance of unskilled manual labour by the [[Trade Boards Act 1918]]. Under the leadership of [[David Lloyd George]] Liberals extended minimum wages to farm workers.<ref>[[Alun Howkins]] and Nicola Verdon. "The state and the farm worker: the evolution of the minimum wage in agriculture in England and Wales, 1909–24." ''Agricultural history review'' 57.2 (2009): 257–274. [https://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/57_205HowkinsandVerdon.pdf online]</ref>

Conservative peers in the House of Lords tried to stop the [[People's Budget]]. The Liberals passed the [[Parliament Act 1911]] to sharply reduce the power of the [[House of Lords]] to block legislation. The cost was high, however, as the government was required by the King to call two general elections in 1910 to validate its position and ended up frittering away most of its large majority, with the balance of power held by [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and [[Irish Parliamentary Party]] members.