In the wake of King Charles’s projected 45% funding rise being revealed, Labour for a Republic, has today written to Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves demanding that the Sovereign Grant, a legacy of the coalition government, be reconsidered.
Read our letter below for more information:
Dear Keir and Rachel,
David Cameron and George Osborne did a great deal of harm to the UK economy, not least by ensuring those who had the most benefitted at the expense of those who had the least. It falls to the next Labour government to put things right.
One of their Tory ‘reforms’ included the introduction of the Sovereign Grant, moving decisions on the funding of the Monarchy from the control of MPs to a group of three – the Prime Minister, Chancellor and Keeper of the Privy Purse. As a result, we have seen dramatically increased funding to one of the richest families in the country at the expense of taxpayers.
In 2025 the King will receive an eye-watering 45% rise. This is at a time when nurses are receiving 5% and other key public workers are still fighting for a fair wage. We believe that this award is morally unjustifiable, while also both anti-democratic and plain wrong. The people of this country should have their say on Royal funding through debate between their elected representatives.
A £39m increase in royal funding (or for that matter, £250m for an unnecessary coronation or Charles’s £500m unpaid inheritance tax bill) may seem small to some, in the context of the Tory’s disastrous economic legacy, but it is still an important issue, as it is incumbent on those at the top to set an example – too often the monarchy is an exception to the rules that the rest of us have to follow. Thus, we urge you to revisit how the sovereign grant is calculated and restore MPs’ oversight of the process.
Yours sincerely,
Nick Wall
Chair, Labour for a Republic