Should pensioners be squeezed as monarchy costs escalate?

MAY I acquaint you with the following facts?

Pensions in Germany and Spain are £26,000 a year;

Pensions in France £15,811;

Pensions in Australia are £12,649 and

Pensions in Ireland are £10,415.

Most of these countries also provide other benefits including free public travel passes. The pension in the UK is a miserly £5,837.

Furthermore, this year the Queen has been given an additional £6m and the total cost of the monarchy is in excess of £200m.

Do our local MPs have any comment on this? Do they still consider pensioners here to be well treated?

From: June Fountain, Carlesmoor Lane, Dallowgill, Ripon.

ALED Jones (Yorkshire Post, May 3) is always moaning about 
the cost to “Britons” of the monarchy.

He really should do more research. Just because we only see what the Royals are doing when it is reported in the media does not mean that is the only time that they are working. Would Mr Jones and his ilk like to be on duty 365 days a year?

Because of the Royals, the economy of this country benefits by some £26.4bn, particularly from tourism and revenue from Crown Estates, which makes the cost of £200m seem very good value.

Mr Jones never seems to moan about licence payers’ money being spent by the BBC on promoting Alan Sugar’s business empire by finding him new employees at our expense and probably being handsomely paid for doing it.

From: Aled Jones, Mount Crescent, Bridlington, East Yorkshire.

I AM completely insulted and angry that the Royal Family is to receive a £6m bonus this year, on top of the colossal public money it has already received.

George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has introduced a new system whereby the Royal household will see its taxpayer funding increase by nearly 20 per cent.

As Britain faces more cuts and years of economic uncertainty, how can such an extravagant pay rise be justified? It shows a stunning lack of empathy for the ordinary person.

George Osborne should be made to perform a full policy U-turn and then he should 
resign. In truth what he has 
done does not serve the best interests of the society which we all share.

From: James Doyle, York.

NO politician matches the longevity of the Queen (Tom Richmond, Yorkshire Post, April 27). And to those who think we’d be better off without the monarchy, I offer you two words – President Cameron.