King consents to Crown Estate legislation that ‘will make him many times richer’, Lords told
The King has given consent to legislation that “will make him many times richer” in the future, Parliament has been told.
Striking a sarcastic tone at Westminster, Labour peer Lord Berkeley said he was “very pleased” at the agreement of Charles to the Crown Estate Bill, which he argued would benefit the monarch financially.
The independent commercial organisation manages the broad range of Crown assets worth an estimated £16.5 billion, including large swathes of land, historic estates and nearly all the seabed around the UK, with profits paid to the Treasury.
The amount generated is used to determine the size of the sovereign grant paid to the King.
Investment powers
The proposed legislation aims to reform the Crown Estate Act 1961, which established the body, widening its investment and borrowing powers.
At third reading of the draft law in the Lords, peers heard the monarch had “consented to place his interests, so far as they are affected by the Bill, at the disposal of Parliament for the purposes of the Bill”.
In response, Lord Berkeley said: “I was very pleased to see that His Majesty the King has given consent to a Bill which will make him many times richer over the course of the next decade or so – that is good.”
Responding, Treasury minister Lord Livermore said: “Lord Berkeley will know that only the King’s consent is required for this Bill.”
Crackdown
The legislation now heads to the Commons, where MPs will consider a demand by peers for a crackdown on environmentally damaging salmon farms, which it is warned threaten the wild species with extinction.
Earlier this month, the Lords inflicted a heavy defeat on the Government in backing a cross-party move that would force the Crown Estate to revoke or refuse licences to bad operators that harm the marine habitat and wildlife.
However, while the legislation extends to the whole of the UK, the management of the Crown Estate in Scotland, where most fish farming takes place, is a devolved matter.
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Grifters, and people will bow to them.
The King (Godfather) of the Royal Maffia is at it again.
This typifies those entitled plutocrats who feed tick-like off our natural resources. The Crown Estate owned by King Charles is stolen property. And If it’s morally right that Nazi looted treasures be returned to their rightful owners so should the Crown Estate land & coastline that were forcibly taken after conquest be returned to the people of Wales.