King's funds 'should be directed elsewhere', says Labour MP

Public funds for the King "should be directed elsewhere," a Labour MP has said.

The House of Commons gave its unanimous backing on Monday to £99.9million in royal funding for the 2027-28 financial year, as the Sovereign Grant Bill cleared its passage through the lower chamber.

The legislation, which now proceeds to the House of Lords for further scrutiny, covers the cost of the royal family's official duties and the maintenance of royal palaces.

MPs approved the measure without division, though the debate was not without its critics.

The Bill introduces changes to the formula underpinning the grant, altering the share of Crown Estate net profits allocated to the monarchy from 12 per cent to approximately 20.5 per cent.

It also removes existing provisions that had prevented the grant from decreasing year on year.

Labour MP Brian Leishman expressed his dismay during the debate, telling the chamber that public money directed to the Crown "could and should be directed elsewhere."

The Alloa & Grangemouth MP declared: "When looking at the intense suffering millions of people are experiencing, I can't help but feel that the Sovereign Grant money could and should be directed elsewhere, and not to a family that is worth an estimated £21billion."

Mr Leishman also distanced his own sense of national pride from the institution of monarchy itself, remarking that his "sense of patriotism does not come from a flag, or an anthem, or the Royal Family."

Treasury Minister Torsten Bell mounted a robust defence of the grant, arguing the Bill would "make it easier to respond where funding would otherwise become inappropriately low or inappropriately high."

Mr Bell outlined: "To support the monarch's official duties, the Sovereign Grant funds the staff, official travel, property maintenance, and essential services required for the sovereign to fulfil their unique constitutional role."

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The minister emphasised that the King's duties reach well beyond ceremony, encompassing the hosting of foreign heads of state, diplomatic engagements abroad, and the strengthening of Commonwealth ties.

"These activities support UK interests, including trade, investment, and security," he added.

The revised calculation – setting the Crown Estate profit share at roughly 20.5 per cent rather than the previous 12 per cent – reflects the end of a temporary uplift arrangement that had been in place for a decade.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Bobby Dean raised the question of where precisely the funds would end up, stating: "It is right that taxpayers will have questions about where and, importantly, who this money goes to."

Mr Dean went further, insisting the Government must guarantee that "not a penny of this grant goes to Andrew Mountbatten Windsor" because the duke had "disgraced his title and office."

Deputy Speaker Caroline Nokes swiftly intervened, reminding the chamber that the Bill's scope was confined strictly to the grant's size and future calculation method, adding pointedly that Mr Dean "will be aware that the grant goes to the King."

The £99.9million figure represents a notable reduction from the £137.9million allocated for 2026-27, which had included £40.3million earmarked for the now-completed Buckingham Palace reservicing programme to overhaul the building's plumbing and electrical systems.

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