The royal family should be accountable to the British people (Point 5)

Submitted by Democrat on Wed, 02/09/2009 - 1:20pm

It's absurd that in a modern democracy the Queen and other members of the royal family are completely unaccountable for their actions - and are excluded from any parliamentary oversight.

‹ Royal Revenue, Taxes, and the Devil in the Details (Point 6) The Duke of Edinburgh’s common touch OR Bad behaviour at the Chelsea Flower Show (Point 1) ›

The monarchy must be answerable

Submitted by Pro bono publico on Sun, 27/09/2009 - 11:50am.

I agree with Point 5 of the Manifesto: it is unacceptable that Parliament is not permitted to debate the monarchy or any of the activities of members of the royal family. Consequently the royals are answerable to nobody. In a modern democracy this won’t wash any more.

We now have a lot more transparency for public servants. The Windsors must come under the same scrutiny as everyone else. Our brave Parliamentarians have got into the mindset of not questioning the royal status quo, partly as a result of being required to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen before they are able to take their seats: MPs actually promise to be the monarch’s feudal servants rather than our representatives.

In a parliamentary democracy MPs should be responsible for holding the government to account, and this includes the monarchy. Do your job, MPs! Get on with it!