What were the corn laws

A. They were a series of laws and taxes that brought wealth to the farmers and poverty and protest throughout Britain. They were repealed amid fears that they would cause revolution and anarchy.< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Q. How so

A. A corn law was introduced in Britain in 1804, when the landowners who dominated Parliament sought to protect their profits by imposing a tax on any corn that was imported.

Q. So people could buy only from them

A. Yes. And during the Napoleonic Wars it had not been possible to import corn from Europe. This led to a huge expansion of wheat farming in Britain and to high bread prices.

Q. And after the war

A. Farmers feared that when the war ended, in 1815, imported foreign corn would cause a drop in prices. The cost of corn, which had reached an incredible 6 6s 6d a quarter (28lb) in 1812, fell to 3 5s 7d three years later. Landowners put the pressure on MPs to protect their profits - and parliament passed a law allowing the import of foreign wheat without duty only when the domestic price reached 4 a quarter.

Q. And what was the reaction of the people

A. Outrage. The Houses of Parliament had to be defended by soldiers against an angry crowd as the legislation was being passed. The law was detested particularly by the industrial workers in Britain's fast-growing towns who had to pay higher bread prices. They saw the corn laws as an example of how Parliament favoured large landowners. And the manufacturers hated the corn laws because they feared a demand for higher wages.

Q. But did their protests have any effect

A. The 1832 Reform Act had given the vote to many of the industrial middle classes, which meant they were more becoming powerful and the government had to heed their opinions. Meanwhile, many protest groups had formed, including the Anti-Corn Law League, led by Richard Cobden. A trade depression in 1839 and a series of bad harvests created a great deal of anger towards the corn laws. Cobden was elected MP for Stockport in 1841 and started to lobby in the Commons for reform. A further economic depression of 1840-1842 increased membership of the league and soon it became the best-organised political group in Britain.

Q. So how did change come

A. For a mixture of political and social reasons. The protest leagues were efficient lobbyists with an effective argument. They were mainly middle-class manufacturers, merchants, bankers and traders. They wanted the corn laws to be repealed so that they could sell more goods both in Britain and overseas. Tory Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, who had been elected on a policy of retaining the laws, became convinced that they must be repealed. He said: 'Something effectual must be done to revive the languishing commerce and manufacturing industry of this country ... We must make this country a cheap country for living.'

Q. And the social reason

A. Peel was also influenced by the mass starvation in Ireland when the potato crop failed in 1845. He needed to avoid that in mainland Britain at all costs. In January, 1846, a new corn law was passed that reduced the duty on oats, barley and wheat to a mere shilling a quarter.

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By Steve Cunningham