No Corn Laws?

[Vinization]

I'm not well versed on this subject, so sorry for any mistakes.

The Corn Laws were regulations enacted by the British government after the end of the Napoleonic Wars to protect local grain producers from foreign competition, which had the effect of keeping food prices in Britain high while they decreased elsewhere in Europe. They weren't repealed until 1846, in the middle of the Great Irish Famine.

So, with a POD from 1800 onward, is there any way the Corn Laws could not be implemented? Assuming the groups in favor of them are too powerful to be stopped in the early 19th century, could the laws be repealed earlier?

What would be the effects of British people in general having to pay less to survive? Could we see a rise in living standards? Does this change how the Irish Famine is handled by the government?

 

[Thoresby]

I'm not well versed on this subject, so sorry for any mistakes.

The Corn Laws were regulations enacted by the British government after the end of the Napoleonic Wars to protect local grain producers from foreign competition, which had the effect of keeping food prices in Britain high while they decreased elsewhere in Europe. They weren't repealed until 1846, in the middle of the Great Irish Famine.

So, with a POD from 1800 onward, is there any way the Corn Laws could not be implemented? Assuming the groups in favor of them are too powerful to be stopped in the early 19th century, could the laws be repealed earlier?

What would be the effects of British people in general having to pay less to survive? Could we see a rise in living standards? Does this change how the Irish Famine is handled by the government?

The primary beneficiary and proponent of the Corn Laws was the "Landed Interest" in 19th century language or in modern language the nobility and gentry who owned 2/3rds of Britain's agricultural land. Pre 1832 and the Great Reform Act those same people have a dominant position in the House of Commons and overwhelming dominance in the House of Lords. So if you want to prevent their passage you need to either change the economic situation meaning there is no perceived need or bring the Reform Act forward. To accelerate their repeal you need to accelerate the Great Reform Act and the industrialisation of Britain and the transformation of the English upper class from one dominated by landowning aristocrats and gentry to one with a large industrial element.

The "urban" and industrial upper class to be clear were in favour of repeal because cheap imports meant the working and middle class would have more money to spend on manufactured products made by them as they'd be spending less on food.

 

[Vinization]

The primary beneficiary and proponent of the Corn Laws was the "Landed Interest" in 19th century language or in modern language the nobility and gentry who owned 2/3rds of Britain's agricultural land. Pre 1832 and the Great Reform Act those same people have a dominant position in the House of Commons and overwhelming dominance in the House of Lords. So if you want to prevent their passage you need to either change the economic situation meaning there is no perceived need or bring the Reform Act forward. To accelerate their repeal you need to accelerate the Great Reform Act and the industrialisation of Britain and the transformation of the English upper class from one dominated by landowning aristocrats and gentry to one with a large industrial element.

The "urban" and industrial upper class to be clear were in favour of repeal because cheap imports meant the working and middle class would have more money to spend on manufactured products made by them as they'd be spending less on food.

Would an earlier approval of Catholic emancipation help with that? AFAIK Pitt wanted it to be passed along the Act of Union with Ireland, but George III didn't let him.

 

[Thoresby]

Would an earlier approval of Catholic emancipation help with that? AFAIK Pitt wanted it to be passed along the Act of Union with Ireland, but George III didn't let him.

Not really, the only parts of the United Kingdom where Catholic Emancipation has a meaningful impact on election results is in heavily rural Ireland so without the widening of the franchise brought about by the Great Reform Act it just means there are a few Catholic landowners voting for the Corn Laws alongside the Protestant ones. If you want to prevent/repeal the Corn Laws you need the other growing industrial cities like Manchester and Birmingham to have louder political voice sooner.

 

[BELFAST]

With less money to be made from cash crops like grain rents for tenant farmers might be lower in Ireland.
landlords in Ireland would have less money. The penal laws would still make farmers smaller over time.
could be a shift to more live stock farming in Ireland. so more butter and beef exports to Britain.
Might seem more people emigrating earlier before the famine in Ireland.

 

[Vinization]

Not really, the only parts of the United Kingdom where Catholic Emancipation has a meaningful impact on election results is in heavily rural Ireland so without the widening of the franchise brought about by the Great Reform Act it just means there are a few Catholic landowners voting for the Corn Laws alongside the Protestant ones. If you want to prevent/repeal the Corn Laws you need the other growing industrial cities like Manchester and Birmingham to have louder political voice sooner.

I see. Well, at least solving the emancipation issue almost 30 years ahead of schedule means electoral reform becomes the main subject of debate sooner, right?

 

[Thoresby]

It wasn't a linear process with reactionary Tories defending the status quo on one side and enlightened Liberals on a long march to universal suffrage on the other. The 1828-50 period saw a whole series of different issues interact in a very complex Venn diagram.

For example the passage of the Great Reform Act was in large part the result of Ultra Tory discontent with Catholic Emancipation, because the English upper middle classes were more anti-Catholic than the aristocracy. It was a horseshoe alliance of the left and (far) right against the centre right.

The Great Reform Act was also more than just "democracy is a good thing, let's have more of it", it affected both the franchise and the distribution of seats. On the franchise for the first time it set a uniform standard, before different seats had different franchise requirements with some being very, very narrow and others actually became more restrictive after the passage of the act (though not many). Some form of wealth requirement is inevitable for the period but by basing it on the value of owned real property it weighted the electorate towards the Landed Interest, the factory building is only a small element of the value of a factory, the plant and equipment is worth more. Whereas farmland is farmland. But because of the Land Tax that was the most obvious way to do things.
On the distribution of the seats it was the first time that the idea that representation should be correlated with population was put into practice and legacies like Old Sarum, that had been a city in the 12th century but had been depopulated for centuries after a new Cathedral and a new city was built on a different site. It also gave borough representation to industrial cities that had been small villages in the middle ages and it's that element that enabled the repeal of the Corn Laws in time.

So one way to achieve your OP would be to have an early redistribution of seats with no change to the franchise, continuing to allow it to vary from seat to seat, preventing the OTL influx of medium sized farmers into the electorate. This could be part of an effort to delay Catholic Emancipation by increasing the parliamentary weight of anti Catholic groups. Because again: Catholic areas are more rural areas which are pro Corn Laws.