"We need to have a referendum on the monarchy"
Zarah Sultana has called for a “referendum on the monarchy” after delegates at her party’s conference backed its abolition.
The Your Party MP has long been an outspoken critic of the Royal Family and has repeatedly targeted Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor over his conduct and use of public funds.
Speaking to the BBC, Ms Sultana said: “It’s important that we articulate a different version of society and an economy that extends to not just corporations and businesses and our public services.
“It is also questions around the monarchy when you’ve got a royal family with a sovereign grant that will increase to £132million next year, and you’ve got Prince Andrew who has had £12million of taxpayers’ money to defend legal costs, a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein.”
Andrew has frequently denied all allegations against him linked to Epstein.
The Metropolitan Police previously said the sexual assault claims against him were not sufficient to justify further investigation.
After those remarks, Ms Sultana insisted:
“We need to have a referendum on the monarchy and talk about democratising society as well.”
Her comments come just a week after the Your Party Conference in Liverpool, where the former Labour MP used her maiden speech to again criticise Andrew, describing him as a “parasite”.
She said: “We shouldn’t just abolish Andrew’s titles. We should abolish the monarchy itself.”
A recent YouGov poll found that 62% of the British public believe the UK should continue to have a monarchy rather than move to an elected head of state.
One in four respondents backed Ms Sultana’s position, while 14% said they had no opinion.
Public attitudes towards Andrew have continued to worsen.
He has fallen to his lowest-ever ranking in the poll, with 91% of Britons holding a negative view of the disgraced royal.
The proportion of people who rate him “very negatively” has risen by 10 points since August, from 81%.
The drop in public standing comes as Andrew is set to leave Royal Lodge and “live apart” from Sarah Ferguson. Her popularity was not measured in the poll.
By contrast, the Prince and Princess of Wales remain the most positively viewed members of the Royal Family. Some 76% of respondents said they have a good opinion of Prince William, while 73% said the same of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Meghan Markle ranked closest to Andrew on the unpopularity scale, with 66% of those surveyed holding a negative view of the Duchess of Sussex.
Loading ...