Campaign group Republic has called for sweeping reform of royal funding after today's announcement that the Queen's annual grant is set to rise to £42.8m in 2016/17.

The announcement was made by the government as part of the spending review. The Sovereign Grant is not based on costed budgets but is instead linked to the profits of the Crown Estate.

The grant, introduced in 2011, means royal spending cannot go below that of the previous year, it can only go up or stay unchanged.

Graham Smith, Republic's CEO, said today:

"It is beyond belief that on the same day George Osborne announces more cuts to public services he tells parliament he will give more money to the monarchy."

"The Sovereign Grant is already well beyond the needs of the royal household. And it is still only a small part of the estimated £334m annual cost of the monarchy."

"The Sovereign Grant makes no financial sense, it is designed entirely in the interests of the royal family. It must be scrapped, we need root and branch reform of royal funding."

"This is a result of the secretive and unaccountable nature of the monarchy. An elected head of state would not last long taking so much from the taxpayer when the taxpayer is having their public services cut."

NOTES

The Report of the Royal Trustees on the Sovereign Grant for 2016-17 was published on November 25, 2015 and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479563/sovereign_grant_report_final_web.pdf

Republic's 2015 report on royal finances can be found at www.republic.org.uk/royalfinances