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Anti-monarchy group urges MPs to set up inquiry into whether royal family covered up knowledge of Andrew’s activities
MPs have been urged to call for a parliamentary inquiry into whether the royal family covered up knowledge of the full extent of Prince Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Virginai Giuffre.
The call has come from Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, the campaign group that wants to abolish the monarchy.
Smith has also sent MPs an extract from a letter he received from the Commons Speaker’s office in 2022 rejecting claims that parliamentary rules ban all discussion of the monarchy.
In an email to MPs, Smith says:
It is not credible to believe Charles and William didn’t know anything about these latest revelations [about Andrew allegedly asking a police protection officer to seek out information that could be used to discredt Giuffre]. Clearly they would have been briefed over the years. Yet they did nothing except try to keep Andrew safe from serious consequences for fear those consequences would blow back on them.
This scandal, which has been dragging on for two decades, is extraordinary for the complete silence from the country’s political leaders. That has to stop.
Please speak up and address this issue in parliament.
The public should be able to expect a full public or parliamentary inquiry into the royal household. Who knew what and when? Why didn’t they seek to ensure there was proper accountability? Why didn’t the police act in the face of mounting evidence? Was that because of royal pressure?
This scandal has gone on too long. Whether you support the monarchy or not, our MPs must be the first to defend the rule of law and the highest standards of conduct in public life.
Smith has also released an exchange of letters between Republic and the Speaker in 2022 in which the Speaker’s office said that there is “no general prohibition on discussing of matters relating to the royal family in the House of Commons and recent press coverage has rather confused the issue”.
While it is true that there is no outright ban on discussing the monarchy in parliament, and some legislation specifically relates to the royal family, Erskine May, the Commons “rulebook”, includes provisions which do limit debate affecting the royal family. Questions are not allowed that imply criticism of the royal family, and MPs are not allowed to criticise members of the royal family in debate (as well as some other senior figures like judges) unless the Commons is debating a substantive motion covering the monarchy.
MPs can table a motion about the conduct of the royal family, and the SNP has taken advantage of this rule to table an early day motion under the heading “Conduct of Prince Andrew” saying “that this house calls on the government to take legislative steps to remove the dukedom granted to Prince Andrew”. Jessica Elgot has the details here.
However, Commons early day motions are largely pointless. They never get debated and normally attract less attention than a tweet. (Unlike tweets, however, they are covered by parliamentary privilege.)
The fact that this EDM was allowed implies that a debate in the chamber on a motion of this kind would be allowed.
However, the government decides most of what gets debated in the Commons, and ministers have indicated that they have no interest in opening up a parliamentary debate on Andrew. If the government is opposed to parliament discussing a topic, it is not easy for backbenchers, or the opposition party, to ensure much time gets spent on it.
The main opposition party gets regular slots when it can choose the topic for debate, but the smaller opposition parties like the SNP are only very rarely given the chance to table a motion for debate in an opposition day slot. MPs can also table a private members’ bills. Sometimes this means they can raise their proposal under the 10-minute rule procedure, meaning they are allowed to make a short speech in favour, but 10-minute rule bills are never properly debated. Some private members’ bills do get properly debated on Fridays, but there is no possibility of introducing a new bill using this procedure until a new session of parliament starts next year.
Today the Times is running a story saying that “has not paid rent on his grace-and-favour mansion on the Windsor Estate for two decades”.
In interviews this morning, Peter Kyle, the business secretary, and Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, would not defend this arrangement.
Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons Treasury committee, said that since the house belongs to the Crown Estate, there could be a case for parliament looking into whether this is a good use of taxpayers’ money.
But the Times report says “the prince’s agreement also includes a clause stating that the Crown Estate, which manages Crown properties for the benefit of the taxpayer, would need to pay him around £558,000 if he gave up the lease”.
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Updated at 05.44 EDT
Boris Johnson is about to give evidence to the Covid inquiry about how the pandemic affected children and young people. Martin Belam is covering that on a separate live blog here.
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Peter Kyle, the business secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. When it was put to him on LBC that today’s borrowing figures implied Britain was going bankrupt, he replied:
No, because when you look at the debt to GDP ratio, we are stable as this country, and we are doing what it takes to invest our way out of the of the challenge that we have inherited from the from the Tory government.
Bear in mind that when we came into office, we inherited a growth emergency. We had no growth, high taxation, low growth or no growth, and we have to break out of that cycle. What Rachel Reeves has done is restored stability to our economy.
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Starmer joins other European leader in statement of solidarity with Ukraine ahead of Trump/Putin talks
Keir Starmer, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders from across Europe have said the current front line in Ukraine “should be the starting point of negotiations” for a peace deal, PA Media reports.
The leaders – including France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and European commission chief Ursula von der Leyen – said: “We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.”
The joint statement follows reports that US President Donald Trump had tossed aside maps of the front line in Ukraine and suggested Mr Zelensky surrender the entire eastern Donbas region to Vladimir Putin during tense White House exchanges last week, PA reports
In the statement, the leaders of Ukraine, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, the European Commission and European Council, said:
We are all united in our desire for a just and lasting peace, deserved by the people of Ukraine.
We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.
We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.
Trump is expected to meet Russian leader Putin in the coming weeks for talks on ending the war.
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Reeves’s pledge to save firms £6bn by cutting red tape dismissed as not ‘remotely serious’ by Tories
Good morning. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Peter Kyle, the business secretary, are today addressing 350 business leaders and mayors at a regional investment summit in Birmingham. The event is a relatively big deal – Keir Starmer held cabinet a day earlier than usual to avoid a diary clash – and the Treasury claims that it is tied to £10bn in private sector investment being “committed to regions across the UK, alongside public investment, in onshore and offshore wind projects”.
As Richard Partington reports, Reeves is announcing plans to cut administration (“red tape”) for business which she claims will save firms £6bn a year by the end of this parliament.
And Kyle is announcing the next stage of the government’s initiative to get regulators to give greater priority to promoting growth. He said:
By stripping back unnecessary rules and pointless paperwork we will free business to grow while ensuring vital protections are enforced. Creating a stronger growth a duty for regulators is a key part of this while greater transparency will ensure that they can be held to account.
But the summit is taken place as the overall economic outlook continues to look gloomy. Government borrowing figures out this morning show that the government borrowed £20bn in September – the highest September figures since 2020, when the government was grappling with Covid. Graeme Wearden has more on his business live blog.
Almost every government at some point announces a “blitz on red tape” and the opposition parties are not impressed by Reeves’ announcement today. Andrew Griffith, her Tory shadow, said:
It is just embarrassing when this government talks about cutting red tape whilst simultaneously imposing an extra 120,000 words of new employment and union rules and layering on green energy levies which are crippling British business. If they were remotely serious that is where they should start.
Unlike the Conservatives who have many experienced business people in their shadow cabinet, not a single person in the Labour cabinet has ever run a business – and it shows.
And Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, said:
If the chancellor was serious about cutting red tape she would tackle the mind-blowing two billion extra pieces of business paperwork created by Brexit by pursuing an ambitious tailor-made UK-EU customs union.
On its own, simply cutting unnecessary paperwork rules will do precious little to buck the trend of shops shutting and jobs taking a hit.
According to Politico’s London Playbook briefing, Reeves is expected to mention Brexit in her speech as one of the reasons why the economy is performing poorly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Boris Johnson, the former PM, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry as part of its module looking at the impact of the pandemic on children and young people. Martin Belam is covering that on a separate live blog.
10am: Peter Kyle, the business secretary, and Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, speak at the regional investment summit. There is a live feed here.
11.30am: Wes Streeting, the health secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs debate amendments to the sentencing bill.
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Updated at 05.50 EDT
