Royal spending reduced by 12.2%
It was revealed today that spending by the Royal family on official duties was reduced by 12.2% to £38.2 million compared to £41.5 million last year. This is the equivalent of 62p for each head of population in the UK and has prompted an argument as to whether the royal family on the whole give value for money for UK taxpayers.
It does seem as though every area of the UK taxpayer-funded purse is set to feel more pain in the short to medium-term and indeed even the Queen is not immune from these cutbacks. It would appear that a reduced number of overseas visits by the Queen during the last tax year and reduced spending on building maintenance led to the significant reduction of more than £3 million on expenditure.
This is just yet another example of the squeeze being placed upon those funded by the UK taxpayer, whether this be public services or public figures, although interestingly there does not appear to be any similar move with regards to MPs expenses. It is common knowledge that a number of MPs are extremely annoyed at cutbacks in their expenditure and indeed there have been changes in the parliamentary expenditure set up. Many fear that some MPs have yet to learn their lesson with regards to expenditure and expenses and we will see more damaging headlines in the short to medium term.
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