THE SNP resolution to abolish the Sovereign Grant last week (“Royal cash lottery win must end say SNP delegates”, The Herald, October 11) as a cynical example of playing to the gallery and while it got conference delegates hooting, it perpetrates misinformation about the monarchy's funding.
The Crown Estate already supports "the wider public good" – 85 per cent of the Crown Estate's profits are immediately seized by the Treasury to be spent as part of revenue on public services. The remaining 15 per cent, which form the Sovereign Grant, helps to provide employment to thousands of people and provide public investment to numerous businesses and contractors associated with the running of public buildings. Julie Hepburn claims that "Her Majesty is purring her way to the bank", but she is either ignorant of or deliberately overlooks the fact that the Sovereign Grant is not a “royal salary” - it does not go into the Queen's pocket for her to spend on herself, it is funds to support her function as head of state, and it is spent on items like building maintenance and staff salaries that are part of that office. Even if it was President Salmond rather than Queen Elizabeth in the Palace of Holyroodhouse then the same amount of money would still need to be spent on it, unless the SNP is planning to celebrate independence with mass redundancies and demolishing our built heritage.
The SNP needs to apologise for slandering the Queen and misleading the public to score political points.
Robert Frazer,
500 Charleston Drive, Dundee.
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