CONTRARY to recent reports in the press, the monarchy does not give the British people good value for money.
Granted, the income from the Crown Estate (about £150 million in 2004) is much larger than the annual Civil List payment, but society is on to a loser by retaining a political culture centred around "Her Majesty's Government".
Britons don't realise the colossal disparity between sums grossed by the Crown Estate and to the true direct annual cost of the monarchical state.
Each year the hard-working taxpayers of this country are given the burden of paying more than £16 billion to fund the Queen's continuity of governance (including the cost of the civil service and the judiciary). Meanwhile, many European countries are being run on a shoestring but manage to provide a top level of public service.
The monarchy is an extravagance we can surely not afford. Britain is capable of producing a more cost-effective system than monarchy.
Aled Jones,
Mount Crescent,
Bridlington.
Updated: 09:49 Friday, July 08, 2005
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