On Tuesday 15th March, MPs voted in favour of the draft Sovereign Grant Act 2011 (Change of Percentage) Order 2017.

Voting against the bill, Rushanara said:

“Of course there’s a case for repairing the palace. But to raise the share of profits from the ‘Crown Estate’ (which are public assets), handed over to the Palace, up from 15% and 25% is a bizarre and unsustainable way to pay for this.

If Ministers had proposed a specific one-off grant in the normal way, that would be more persuasive. But handing a chunk of profits away from the taxpayer with no time limit doesn’t seem to me the right approach. I suspect this is why other colleagues decline to vote in favour of the motion as well.”