The Swing riots were a major influence on the Whig Government. They added to the strong social, political and agricultural unrest throughout Britain in the 1830s, encouraging a wider demand for political reform, culminating in the introduction of the Reform Act 1832. However, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, ending "outdoor relief" in cash or kind, and setting up a chain of designedly unwholesome workhouses covering larger areas across the country, to which the poor had to go if they wanted help was soon thereafter enacted.