There was no standing army in England in 1641.Therefore,to suppress the Irish rebellion,England needed to raise an army.This would require taxes to equip,supply and pay soldiers,taxes that the King needed Parliament to approve.Parliament was reluctant for 3 reasons:
Firstly,to be an MP or even vote in election you needed to own a certain amount of land,so both Commons and Lords consisted of the rich.As it would be the rich paying most of the taxes,they were reluctant to vote money for an army that the king might divert to spend on other things.
Secondly,there was the question of army command.It was normal in the 17th century for the monarch,or a close male relative,to lead the army in the field (King Charles personally led the main Royalist army during the First Civil War).Parliament was worried that Charles would use the army against his political enemies in Parliament instead of,or after,the Irish rebels.They wanted the power to appoint the army commander.Charles saw this as an infringement of his Divine Right as King to lead the army.
Finally,Parliament wanted to address perceived abuses of power by the King before discussing anything else,including new taxes for an army.
