The idea behind the welfare state was to relieve poverty, reduce inequality, and achieve greater social integration and solidarity, and in Britain these aims were sorely wanted after world war two .

This desire for the welfare state was rooted in many causes. To fully understand these cause we have to start out not at the 1941 beginnings of the large scale welfare state but to 1598.

One of the main motivating factors behind this desire towards a welfare state was the universal hatred of the so called "Poor laws." These were a series of laws governing aid (feeding, education, and health) to the poorest of society. The first passed in 1598 and not until 1948 did the last one of them get eliminated. The basic idea behind these laws was that for someone who was able bodied to be eligible for help he would have to be declared a pauper and would...