£162 million to bury the queen

[StoneofDestiny]

£162 Million to bury the Queen! AIBU to think this could have been better spent improving Public Services like the NHS, Education, Housing etc

Theunamedcat

I don't disagree with you - but the money would have served the public better if it had gone to public services instead of a burial. She could have written that into her plans. We keep squandering money into royal 'celebrations, commemorations' etc etc and not in improving the wellbeing of millions of our citizens. It cannot be right.
An inexpensive funeral need not be a mark of disrespect, but a real statement of priorities and intent.

But £165m would have housed a lot of homeless people.
Or Kept a lot of foodbanks in supplies.
Or Funded mental health workers.
Or Funded school equipment.
Or supported any number of charities to help 1000s of people.
But hey, the royals are special people aren’t they, chosen by a god or something to be really special and do …. well, very little. But they got to wear stuff from their dressing up boxes for the day so they’re happy.

The queen was not frugal, she was very free with taxpayers money right up to and after her death! There are royal mansions being heated and staffed all over the country despite being unoccupied. Housing crisis? Yes - a Royal one.

The royal family should just F^*k off. Biggest benefit scroungers in England

I'm sick of moaning whingers who do nothing but complain about other people. So what if it cost that for the Queen's funeral? I couldn't care less. She gave a lifetime of service, and she deserved it. As did Prince Philip. So there.

The Queen died last year, it's too late to be moaning about it now. I swear some people on here would still moan if she'd been given a pauper's burial.

It was an absolutely magnificent spectacle and worth every penny in my opinion.

Frugal!!! WTF. You are aware this was The Queen, personal owner of many massive properties, jewels, art and racehorses @Fruitful82 .

Moaning? Taxpayers have a perfect right to say how they think their taxes should be spent! You might disagree, your view is not the only view.

Unfortunately the cost have only been published now - so its new information.
we still have to get the final cost of the Coronation - that will be enormous, and it's said Prince Williams Coronation is already in planning.

When the government spends £1 on something, it doesn't cost them £1.

They get a large percentage of that back via various tax points.

e.g they pay that £1 to someone who pays 20% straight back as tax. That person spends the remaining 80p at the supermarket and the government takes another 20% back as VAT. The supermarket pays the remaining 64p to the cashier as wages and they pay 20% as income tax.

So far from that £1, the government has had just shy of 50p back again. And that's just within that short chain of events with relatively low tax burdens. As that money moves further and further through the chain, the government pick up more and more of it.

That's why they spend like that - it stimulates economies and doesn't actually cost that money.

I agree.

Nobody seems to care about all the taxpayers and tv licence money that we spent on hosting Eurovision recently which also was pretty substantial. It seems that people only want to scrutinise public spending when it’s for our Royal Family.

It's around 3p per person for every year of her reign. It is obviously a lot of money, but given the last monarch's funeral was 70 years previously, it's not an amount that's being spent very often.

She was worth every penny !

Wait for the “tourism” argument though 😂
✋️ tourism! From to t'internet "Tourism in London accounts for £6.6 billion 'tourism direct GVA' of £34.3 billion nationally; • London is one of the most visited cities in the world with nearly 15 million international visitors annually"
Now a quick half hour at the local Co op crematorium with a plate of egg mayo sandwiches and a cuppa at Auntie's wouldn't have shown London off quite as nicely, would it!

The Queen's funeral will be remembered by millions for as long as British history is studied. Those 8 hours of NHS time the money could have paid for wouldn't have even been noticed.

I'm sure all the people who got a shit load of paid overtime during a cost of living crisis are glad that it wasn't a small private funeral.

Police, private security, catering, drivers, street cleaners, florists etc. Not to mention whoever owns the rights to paddington teddy bears!

And all the businesses and their employees who benefitted less directly.

That money was poured into the economy in so many ways.

As a tiny example one of my friends got two days freelance work grooming police horses. That'll be money that she will now spend in shops, pubs, cafes etc near her home (not in London).

You also have to consider that they sold broadcasting rights which will have offset the cost. The govt actually encouraged the king to go for a bigger cironation than he planned because of the revenue they received from the queen's funeral.

And if you think about it, a national election costs just over £100m. If we had an elected head of state on 4yr terms, that's £100m every 4 years. So 165m is equivalent to 6yrs of her reign.

And no, they don't believe they're chosen by God. 🙄 The belief in the divine right was discarded 350 years ago.

DisforDarkchocolate - You can still be rich and be frugal, it was well known that the Queen would turn lights off in rooms that weren't being used and encouraged staff to do the same. She also recycled wrapping paper by using it again, (my mum did this as well when we were kids). I think it was that generation who had lived during the war.

Most sensible post I've seen all day.

Managed to survive on state benefits her whole life too.

Nearest hour more likely

Fucking complain about shit like Eurovision then...

"They put her in soil. Do you now how much bread could be made from the wheat that could be grown in that 6 x 3ft patch of ground?" 🙄

You could have built a house for the homeless in that ground that you're just throwing wheat at

YOU think the RF serves a purpose. To me, they are a waste of space. So I think you are extremely unreasonable.