The English debate discussed not merely how or whether to assist the poor but laissez-faire, the prevailing doctrine of non-interference with trade. The debate was influenced by widespread Victorian attitudes that poverty was a self-inflicted wound, incurred through bad habits. Laissez-faire thinking held Irish famine relief in its deadly grip.
Political economists, these men argued that extending their relief to the poor was dangerous because it encouraged overpopulation and would swallow the resources of the nation.
The political fiction of the time was that Ireland was an integral part of the United Kingdom, in the same way as Wales and Scotland, because of the Act of Union, but the political economists argued that it was the responsibility of the Irish population to solve its own problems. Despite the Act of Union Ireland was regarded as “their” country when it came to relief expenditures by the British government.