Buckingham Palace maintenance to cost £150 million
The Queen may be forced to move from Buckingham Palace to make way for maintenance that could cost the British taxpayers around £150 million.
During a time of austerity and massive cuts to public services, particularly welfare, the British public are being asked to help with the multi million pound bill. This comes against the backdroup of the increasing annual expenditure from Buckingham Palace which has risen 11% in five years.
A Buckingham Palace source said that the building might have to be vacated for maintenance work.
"One option is for the palace to be vacated. The initial estimate for the refurbishment of Buckingham Palace looks like £150m…that depends on how you go about refurbishment, whether you do it in parts or the whole thing at once," British media reported the unnamed source as saying.
A London-based political commentator says many Britons are now raising the question that who will pay for their costs amid the deepening housing crisis in the country.
“The bill will be paid by the taxpayers… People will obviously say what about our own housing,” Rodney Shakespeare told Press TV on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, it has been revealed that members of the Royal Family spent £5.1million on travel last year, 14% up from the previous year.
The royal household spends a substantial amount of money per year on travel. The most expensive trip took place in October of last year when Prince Charles and his wife took a trip to Colombia and Mexico that cost nearly half a million pounds.
Graham Smith, from the campaign group Republic, has said that a fundamentally different approach is needed towards the royal family and the contributions made by the British taxpayers. Smith believes that “it is time that the whole funding system is scrapped, re-written, that the monarchy is put on a proper budgetary fitting - and that maintenance of the palace is taken out of their hands and given over to the same people that look after the Tower of London very well."
The debate over the royal family has been a long and often bitter affair. During a time of austerity and harsh cuts that are hitting the poorest in society, this debate may continue to rage on.
LM/HA
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