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Queen's value: Civil List needs uplift
BUCKINGHAM Palace accounts yesterday revealed the Queen was forced to subsidise the Civil List to the tune of £6m last year.
The figures suggest that unless Her Majesty receives further help from the taxpayer, she faces running out of money by 2012.
In bygone centuries, Parliament deliberately set tight limits on the Royal Household in order to restrict the power of the monarch.
But following recent revelations about extravagant expenses claims, MPs cannot consider they have any moral right to curb anyone's spending, least of all the Queen's, since Palace accounts show the House of Windsor cost to each man, woman and child only 69p a year.
With daily examples of wasted public spending across every Government department in Whitehall, the total cost of the Royals at 41.5m a year merely confirms that the Queen represents extremely good value for money for taxpayers' hard-earned cash.
What is more, it would be a national embarrassment if she was to run into financial difficulties in 2012 – the year of her diamond jubilee.
The current deal for the Civil List, which has not increased since 1990 and was frozen by Tony Blair's New Labour Government in 2000, is due to run out at the end of next year.
Doubtless, there will be an outcry when the Civil List is increased, as it surely needs to be, by a significant amount.
But MPs should not follow the example of their predecessors and instead vote a substantial increase.
The Queen's extraordinary example both at home and abroad over six decades means she should receive significantly more than a meagre 69p a year.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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