Budget: Civil List funding to the Queen frozen

The amount of money the Queen gets from the taxpayer to run her household will be frozen at £7.9m, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

Mr Osborne said the freeze was made with the monarch's full agreement.

The amount provided by the Civil List has stayed unchanged for 20 years. It is now worth a quarter of what it was.

In May Labour MP Ian Davidson said that in the current economic climate raising the amount paid to the Queen by the taxpayer would be "inappropriate".

Delivering his first Budget statement to the House of Commons, Mr Osborne said: "The amount provided by the Civil List has remained unchanged over the last 20 years at £7.9m.

"This has required careful management. Because of inflation, the annual payment is today worth only a quarter of what it was 20 years ago.

Peter Hunt,
Royal Correspondent

This government's solution to the challenge of funding the monarchy comes in two parts.

First, the Civil List will be frozen, but not cut. Palace officials argue the money given for head of state expenditure hasn't increased for 20 years.

Then, in 2012, the system will be simplified. The Queen will get one pot of cash, rather than separate grants for travel and the upkeep of palaces. The timing isn't a coincidence. Any pay rise will be announced as she celebrates 60 years on the throne.

In the past, royals and requests for more money have proved a toxic mix. Prince Philip told reporters in the '60s, the royals were going into the red and might have to move into smaller premises. Five decades on, the Queen's husband will remain silent on this potentially vexed issue.

"I can announce that with the full agreement of the Queen, the Civil List will remain frozen at £7.9m for the coming year and I will propose a new means of consolidated support for her Majesty for the future at a later date."

He added that the royal households have agreed that in future, Civil List spending will come under the same audit scrutiny as other government expenditure through the National Audit Office and the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

The Civil List pays for staff costs and running expenses of the Queen's household and is set every 10 years. A revised figure was due this year.

In May Mr Davidson said it would be "inappropriate" to pay "vast sums of additional money" to the royal household in the current climate.

He said: "These are difficult economic times. The government's said we're all in this together and I think it would be inappropriate in these circumstances for the Queen to be handed vast sums of additional money."

His comments came after the Queen was reported to ask for an increase in funding.

About 70% of the funding is used to pay staff salaries. The money is also used to help fund official functions such as garden parties, receptions and entertainment during state visits.

About 70% of the funding is used to pay staff salaries.

... everyone is going to feel pain from the overspending of the last decade.

Labour did many things wrong, but the coalition are not doing a brilliant job.

Well folks, the feast is over, get ready for years of pain. All these morons who voted labour will see consequence of it, just a shame that normal people will suffer with them.

Tories scrap UK video games tax break

Tory Chancellor George Osborne has revealed that the Coalition Government will not be implementing a tax break for video games.

In devastating news for UK studios, Osborne labelled the proposal put in place by the former Labour Government earlier this year "poorly targeted" as he delivered today's Budget.

Former Chancellor Alistair Darling announced in March that the Government would offer tax breaks to the UK video games industry similar to those enjoyed by the domestic movie sector.

However, UK video games industry leaders were quietly fearful that the recently-elected Coalition Government would withdraw the offer in today's announcement - and those fears have now become reality.

George Osborne had been particularly vocal about tough cuts in the lead up to the Budget - and video games tax relief was clearly in the firing line.

Development industry trade body TIGA has spoken of its fear of the 'brain drain' facing the UK industry should it not get tax relief -as studios and key staff members emigrate abroad.

According to TIGA figures, the UK's games development workforce has fallen by a shocking 44 studios - six per cent - since 2008.

These have included Derbyshire's Free Radical (creators of Timesplitters) and Bath's Pivotal (Conflict: Denied Ops).

Major UK development houses include Rebellion (AVP), Lionhead (Fable), Codemasters (DiRT), Rocksteady (Arkham Asylum), Rockstar (GTA) and many more.

you might need to wait more than a month before you can make a judgement on wether the coalition is doing a brilliant job or not.

Too good to scrub her own toilet is she?

I''m sorry, but I can't take any of this "we're all in this together" crap that is being spouted by the well-privileged toffs who are running the country. They could happily live without needing to work, so any measures they take do not affect them as much as it affects the majority of the population.

The Lib Dems have conveniently forgotten their "VAT Tax Bombshell" posters that they were so proud of during the election.

Regardless of the situation and the rights and wrongs of it, the language coming out of Downing Street is patronising, hollow and two-faced.

That's a nice little app Sky have on their site.

It reckons I will be £126 better off, but some of it was rough estimations - alcohol consumption for example, which varies wildly throughout the day/week/month/year.

But, I will pay less in income tax, and less in car tax this year which is good for me.