Queen's spending: Royals 'should be more open about finances' says MP

Ian Davidson said it would be wrong to divert "vast sums" to the Civil List amid reports the Queen has asked for an increase in taxpayer funding. The Civil List pays for staff costs and running expenses of the Queen's household and is set every 10 years – with a revised figure due this year.

It was increased to 7.9m a year by in 1990 but frozen in 2000 following a deal with the Treasury to compensate for 10 years of over-generous payments.

However, reports said that Buckingham Palace had told Government officials that spending was now 7m above the annual level and that a surplus would run out in 2012.

Mr Davidson, a former member of the public accounts committee, said that at a time of massive spending cuts elsewhere, it would be inappropriate to devote "vast sums" to the Queen. "These are difficult economic times.

Each time the committee had demanded details of spending on items such as travel, it had led to savings. "So I think the price of any consideration of the royals getting more money should be that they have to be open about where the money goes, about the link between the Queen's private fortune and the public purse, because there's a deliberate blurring of the edges."