SNP members backed the repeal of legislation underpinning funding for the Queen. A motion calling for the Sovereign Grant Act 2011 to be repealed was overwhelmingly supported by delegates at the party’s conference in Glasgow.
The sovereign grant, paid to the Queen by the Treasury, is based on a proportion of the profits of the Crown Estate.
The resolution noted: “This has resulted in the royal household receiving a significantly larger income year-on-year from the state, from the initial Sovereign Grant of £31 million in 2012-13 to £76.1 million in 2017-18.”
The motion called for profits from the Crown Estate to be spent “on the wider public good” and urged delegates to support the Act’s repeal. Speaking in support of the motion, Julie Hepburn said the sovereign grant was “basically the equivalent of the royal family winning the lottery every single year”.
She added: “No need for the royal household to play EuroMillions, with the sovereign grant her majesty is purring her way to the bank.
“This is money that comes into the public purse and then goes swiftly back out again, just in case we spend it on anything frivolous like education or health. This is our money. Money that could otherwise be spent on the public good. Under the sovereign grant system there is no accountability for the size of the payments to the royal household or any limitations to ensure proportionality. If profits, double payments double.
“At a time when the UK Government is insisting we all tighten our belts, particularly the most vulnerable, because there is no money, there can be no moral justification for giving just one family more than £70 million.”
MP Alison Thewliss said: “If you are a royal couple and you have a third child, Theresa May will congratulate you. If you are a poor person with tax credits and you have a third child the Tories will condemn you.
“We need to think about the unjustness and the unfairness of this, and we need to think about accountability for assets that should be in the common weal not the Crown’s weal.”
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