Welfare Titans: How Lloyd George & Gordon Brown Compare & Other Essays on Welfare Reform

There are few people better qualified to write on welfare than Frank Field. He has studied the issue for many years, and served as minister for Welfare Reform after the 1997 election. He brings both practical experience and historical perspective to bear on the problem. In this collection of essays he argues that we cannot continue as we are. The rights-based, centrally-funded, government-controlled welfare state we now operate is expensive, unresponsive, and the cause of what Frank Field describes as "a form of permanent serfdom." In spite of this, New Labour remains wedded to the "ration-book" model, appropriate for the post-war years when our present system was being set up, but out of touch with the modern world of increased consumer choice.

Frank Field describes the present policies as "the last throw in politics of central control." In the brilliant essay which gives this book its title, Frank Field compares Lloyd George and Gordon Brown as "titans of welfare reform." Both wanted to assist poor people, but using very different methods. Lloyd George wanted to raise their incomes, but also to make them into independent citizens. He created a floor from which they could rise. Gordon Brown, on the other hand, has raised incomes whilst creating "a degree and intensity of dependency for the working population hitherto unknown." He has created a ceiling which many will never be able to break through.