Editing Robert Peel (section)

==== Corn Laws ====
{{main|Corn Laws}}
[[File:1815 Corn Law, An Act to amend the Laws now in force for regulating the Importation of Corn.jpg|thumb|The 1815 Corn Laws, first introduced by the Tory government of [[Lord Liverpool]], the then–prime minister. This law was made to amend the laws for regulating the importation of corn. This act was still in effect by the time Peel became prime minister himself in 1841.]]
The most notable act of Peel's second ministry, however, was the one that would bring it down.<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', 113–15.</ref> Peel moved against the landholders by repealing the [[Corn Laws]], which supported agricultural revenues by restricting grain imports.<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', vi.</ref> This radical break with Conservative protectionism was triggered by the [[Great Irish Famine|Great Irish Famine (1845–1849)]].<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', 66; Ramsay; ''Sir Robert Peel'', 332–33.</ref> Tory agriculturalists were sceptical of the extent of the problem,<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', 72.</ref> and Peel reacted slowly to the famine, famously stating in October 1846 (already in opposition): "There is such a tendency to exaggeration and inaccuracy in Irish reports that delay in acting on them is always desirable".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Peel |first1=Sir Robert |title=Sir Robert Peel: In Early Life, 1788–1812; as Irish Secretary, 1812–1818; and as Secretary of State, 1822–1827 |date=January 1899 |publisher=J. Murray |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww5oAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22such+a+tendency+to+exaggeration+and+inaccuracy+in+Irish+reports%22+robert+peel&pg=PA223 |access-date=1 November 2021 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004014026/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ww5oAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22such+a+tendency+to+exaggeration+and+inaccuracy+in+Irish+reports%22+robert+peel&pg=PA223#v=onepage&q=%22such%20a%20tendency%20to%20exaggeration%20and%20inaccuracy%20in%20Irish%20reports%22%20robert%20peel&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

His own party failed to support the bill, but it passed with Whig and Radical support. On the [[Reading (legislature)|third reading]] of Peel's Bill of Repeal (Importation Act 1846) on 15 May, [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MPs]] voted 327 votes to 229 (a majority of 98) to repeal the Corn Laws. On 25 June the Duke of Wellington persuaded the [[House of Lords]] to pass it. On that same night Peel's [[Irish Coercion Bill]] was defeated in the Commons by 292 to 219 by "a combination of Whigs, [[Radicals (UK)|Radicals]], and Tory protectionists".<ref>Schonhardt-Bailey, p. 239.</ref> Following this, on 29 June 1846, Peel resigned as prime minister.<ref>Adelman, ''Peel and the Conservative Party: 1830–1850'', 68–69, 70, 72; Ramsay, ''Sir Robert Peel'', 347; Read, ''Peel and the Victorians'', 230–31.</ref>