Robert Peel definitely believed in attaining money from the nobility rather than the poor . Observing that the wealthier community were heavily mortgaged it has been asserted that ‘Peel’s Act’ was the cause of the economic difficulties of farmers in the 1820s. Peel’s reintroduction of income tax, which Liverpool had repealed in 1816 had put taxes more heavily upon the rich completely contrasted to any Tory economic policy and furthermore weakened Peel’s relationship with the Tory party.
Peel sustained a fundamental principle when he stated; 'We must make this country a cheap country for living’, looking at the range of economic reforms during Peel’s second ministry his motivation becomes clear.
In 1842 he abolished hundreds of import duties, making up the deficit with the implementation of income tax as a five-year temporary measure, (which is still used today). Although income tax proved unpopular at first, it was eventually accepted as fair. Previously, contrasting to other Tory governments measures were taken to improve the Poor Law. A Coal Mines Act (1842) and later in 1846 a Factory Act were introduced ,which protected women and children’s working conditions. The Coal Mines Act of 1842 forbade the underground employment of all women, and children under the age of 10. This stimulated the factory reform movement and eventually in 1844 the hours of work for children between 8-13 were limited to six and a half hours a day. Children over thirteen and all women were to work for no more than twelve hours a day, nine on Saturday. However, although this was a momentous step forward, mill owners evaded the requirements of this legislation by resorting to the "relay system", which broke up the twelve hours into smaller shifts and spread them over the traditional sixteen-hour workday (5 a.m. - 9 p.m.). It was only until 1847 that the Ten Hour Bill limited the hours of all workers to fifty-eight per week. On the contrary, lack of adequate enforcement, shortage of inspectors, and the failure of the legislation to apply across all trades severely limited its impact proving not as successful as first hoped. Also it was responsible for provoking much opposition from liberal factory owners who were disgusted with the new legislation.
The Bank Charter Act established in 1844 aimed to strengthen confidence in the banking system by giving greater control over bank note issue,
This legislation made a tremendous impact since it was anti-inflationary and prompted the necessary nationalization of banks; but in times of economic depression it had to be suspended in 1847, 1857 and 1866, since it prevented the essential free-flow of cash required to deal with the collapse in the economy. However, the Bank Charter Act did achieve it’s goal of creating stability and confidence in the pound.
Railways were considered invaluable to Peel as they were seen as bringing many advantages to society and the country and created a second industrial revolution in their own right.
The 1844 Railways Act increased government powers of regulation an inspection and even in construction there can be no doubt that the railways expanded the economy.
The railways created other employment and directly employed about 4% or working men in 1847. Between 1844 and 1851, railways absorbed 20% of the total output of the engineering industry and were considered the greatest cause of national prosperity, even more so than free trade. New towns were established such as Swindon for example, this was a great economic success passionately encouraged by Peel which is clearly evident in the figures: In 1844 805 miles of line were sanctioned, in
1845 2700 miles of line were sanctioned.
The repeal of the Corn Laws was initiated in 1845, when the Irish Potato Famine began, this combined with the poor harvests in Britain gave Peel the perfect excuse to put his anti-corn law views into action. He felt unable to repeal the Corn Laws on purely economic grounds but the crisis in Ireland together with the poor harvests in Britain was an opportunity that was too good to be missed. Knowing that the government could not get enough food to Ireland and the officials were disorganised, Peel came to the conclusion that he would end duties on corn, but the interests of the English aristocrats opposed him because they wanted to protect the farmers.
Subsequently the Corn Laws were abolished and unsurprisingly the Conservative party disintegrated, Peel had to depend on votes from the Whigs as a result. Over 220 Conservatives voted against Peel, led by Disraeli.
Concluding from this, it is justified to say that Robert Peel was successful in improving Britain’s economic and financial status, the developments he made by speeding up the railway system and stabilising the countries currency has to be recognised. Although, in later years the Bank Charter Act had to be dismissed in times of economic depression it did have success financially. There was an enormous deficit when he became Prime Minister and he solved the problem by reintroducing income tax and reducing duties on many goods. Robert Peel created more job opportunity and drastically improved industry. The negative side to his success was the obvious division amongst the Conservative party and the opposition he gained from liberal landowners in repealing the Corn Laws in order to help the Irish famine. However his policies did make more of a positive impact on the people of Britain and possibly encouraged more change for the future