Billionaire royals don’t need to be bankrolled by public
The UK cannot afford to keep the Royal family, and it is time they paid their own way like other celebrities do, say the Scottish Greens.
Currently, the King and Queen are visiting Scotland for ‘Royal Week’ where they are hosting a variety of events across parts of the country.
Over £500 million is taken from the public purse every year to fund the monarchy’s lavish lifestyle.
Meanwhile, the UK Government is attacking disability benefits like Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and refuses to end the cruel two-child benefit cap; a simple action that would lift almost half a million children out of poverty overnight.
Polling shows that 57% of Scots want to abolish the outdated, undemocratic and unaffordable monarchy. If the UK were to do so, it would see a boost to budgets that could be put towards building a fairer, better society for everyone.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman says:
“It is time that we treat the Royal family as celebrities and stop publicly funding them. The monarchy is an outdated and increasingly unpopular institution, with many people now calling for it to be abolished in favour of becoming a republic.
“For too long, the billionaire royals have been bankrolled while providing very little back to the country other than some waving from balconies and state visits. If they were to stop being funded by the public purse, they would still survive on their own wealthy investments and celebrity appearances like other super-rich figures in the public eye do.
“This UK Government is quick to blame disabled and poor people for needing financial support, yet here is one of the richest families in the country receiving public funds on a level like nobody else does year after year without question.
“Keir Starmer is telling the country that his government must make tough decisions and to expect more cuts along the way, yet the cost of the royal family is now over half a billion pounds per year, and nobody blinks. Half a billion pounds that could be invested into the areas Labour intend to cut.
“As Scottish Greens, we recognise how desperately we need Scottish Independence to break away from this being the norm. We cannot afford to wait any longer for the full powers of devolution. It is time to become a self-governing country so that we can build a fairer, better, more responsible and more affordable democratic society for everyone.”
