Scottish Ministers backed a £50,000 cut to royal dignitaries
Scottish Ministers backed a £50,000 cut to royal dignitaries on the day before the Queen passed away at Balmoral Castle. Deputy First Minister and acting Finance Secretary John Swinney unveiled plans to slash the budget of Lord Lieutenants - the monarch’s personal representatives.
The unpaid public servants are said to have provided a hugely valuable role for the Queen over her decades of service. The Scottish Government funds their engagement activities by paying their travel and subsistence costs, but ministers recently eyed them for cuts. Swinney also wrote he was “terribly sad” to hear of the Queen’s death and reiterated the SNP’s position of retaining the monarchy in an independent Scotland. The government have now said, following the Queen’s death, funding was “prioritised” for delivering royal and ceremonial events.