Heroes: I Just Can’t Get Enough 

 

‘And I just can’t get enough 

And I just can’t get enough’ 

 

As this column is always keen to stress, the UK is one the most unequal countries in terms of income of the OECD countries; we are the 9th most unequal of the 38 OECD countries.  

 
The top-20% have 36% of the country’s income and 63% of the country’s wealth, the bottom fifth have only 8% of the income and only 0.5% of the wealth. 

Source: https://equalitytrust.org.uk/about-inequality/scale-and-trends 

It is often said in jest that ‘…someone is making out like a bandit‘, however in the case of the royals it appears to be closer to the truth! 

Research by the Guardian  shows that Charles, through the Duchy of Lancaster, is profiting from the deaths of thousands of people in the NW whose assets are secretly being used to upgrade a commercial property empire managed by the Duchy. Over the last 10-yrs it is estimated that £60m has been collected under an antiquated system, known as bona vacantia, that dates back to feudal times. (1) 

Despite claims that funds obtained under bona vacantia are, after the deduction of costs, distributed to charities, the Duchy of Lancaster’s accounts suggest only 15% of the £61m it has collected in bona vacantia over the last decade has been donated to charities. 

The source of these funds are financial assets owned by people who died without a will or known next of kin. The Ducky’s advisers have continually claimed that, after deducting costs, these revenues are donated to charities. 
 

‘…someone is making out like a bandit‘

 
However, a leaked internal duchy policy from 2020 gave officials at the king’s estate licence to use bona vacantia funds on a broad array of its profit-generating portfolio. Codenamed ‘SA9’, the policy acknowledges spending the money in this way could result in an ‘incidental‘ benefit to the privy purse, the king’s personal income. 

The policy states that such funds can be used for the ‘public good‘ to repair, restore, preserve and protect the fabric of duchy properties when they are categorised as a ‘heritage asset‘. However, the definition goes well beyond listed buildings that are on the National Heritage List for England. 

Using a much broader definition, duchy-owned properties qualify for the funds if they fit within a further seven categories, including buildings located in a conservation area, a site of special scientific interest or area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), which cover large swathes of rural England. 

Duchy properties are also eligible for the funding if they are deemed by officials to be of ‘local historical importance‘. A Guardian analysis suggests the 2020 policy gave the duchy licence to spend bona vacantia on roughly half of its property portfolio. 

In some instances, the money has been spent buying log burners for properties owned by the king and rented out by his estate, or to pay surveyor, planning or architecture fees. A garden wall on a farm in Lancashire has been identified as eligible for an upgrade using bona vacantia. 

The 2020 document outlining policy SA9 appears to acknowledge an indirect financial benefit to the monarch, but states that the funds should not be used in a way that ‘directly‘ benefits the king. It adds: ‘The primary intention of the expenditure must be the preservation and protection of the fabric of the property and any benefit to the privy purse [the king’s private income] is incidental to that purpose.’ 

The document also indicates who ultimately approved of the use of dead people’s money in this way. It states: ‘The authority for the use of special costs in this connection is found in a royal sign manual dated February 1987 as supplemented by a further [royal sign manual] dated October 2019.’ 

‘Royal sign manuals’ appear to be references to the personal signature of the monarch, in this case Queen Elizabeth II. A Duchy of Lancaster spokesperson indicated that, following his mother’s death, the king endorsed the continuation of a policy of using bona vacantia money on ‘the restoration and repair of qualifying buildings in order to protect and preserve them for future generations‘. 

‘The king reaffirmed that money from bona vacantia should not benefit the privy purse, but should be used primarily to support local communities, protect the sustainability and biodiversity of the land and preserve public and historic properties across the Duchy of Lancaster estates,’ the spokesperson said. ‘This includes the restoration and repair of qualifying buildings in order to protect and preserve them for future generations.’ 

The spokesperson added that before distributing bona vacantia to charities, the duchy allocated money to a late claims fund in case any surviving relatives make future claims to their inheritance. ‘The cost of administering bona vacantia and any costs associated with the upkeep of public buildings and those of architectural importance, is also deducted.’ 
 

‘duchy insiders regarded the bona vacantia expenditure, which has until now not been publicly disclosed, as akin to ‘free money”

 
Properties identified in other leaked documents as eligible for use of the funds include town houses, holiday lets, rural cottages, agricultural buildings, a former petrol station and barns, including one used to facilitate pheasant and partridge shoots in Yorkshire. 

One document references the renovation of an old farmhouse in Yorkshire, helping transform it into a high-end residential let. Another upgrade is helping turn a farm building into commercial offices. 

One source has said that duchy insiders regarded the bona vacantia expenditure, which has until now not been publicly disclosed, as akin to ‘free money‘ and a ‘slush fund‘. 

Use of this ‘slush fund‘ has helped to make rental properties more profitable, which indirectly benefits the king, who receives tens of millions in duchy profits each year – income that Buckingham Palace says is ‘private‘. Earlier this year, in his first annual payout since inheriting the estate from his mother, Charles received £26m from the Duchy of Lancaster. 

Many of the people whose money has been transferred to the king’s hereditary estate after they died had been living in rundown properties or social housing that contrast with the high-end duchy properties being transformed with the money they left behind. 

It should also be noted that the Duchy of Cornwall also benefits in the same way, meaning that  William collects bona vacantia funds from deceased Cornish residents. 

Neither duchy pays corporation tax or capital gains tax, giving them a significant commercial advantage. They have become huge cash cows for the royals, generating the equivalent of more than £1.2bn in profits over the last 60 years. 

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester summed up these shenanigans rather neatly: ‘This appears to be a bizarre remnant of feudal Britain. While we await the public acts of levelling up that we have been promised, it seems this country still has silent mechanisms of levelling down at work, redistributing wealth in the wrong direction.’ 
 

‘it seems this country still has silent mechanisms of levelling down at work, redistributing wealth in the wrong direction’

 
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, also expressed concern, saying: ‘At a time when thousands of families in our region are trying to make ends meet amidst the cost of living crisis – and charities are taking most of the strain doing invaluable work helping those struggling to eat and keep the lights on – it appears millions of pounds that should have made its way to vulnerable people, is not‘. 

In many ways the behaviour of the royals sums up much of what is wrong with this country. We are dazzled by titles and pageantry that has no place in modern society, and is merely a throw-back to feudalism.  

It would seem that they have been quietly enriching themselves via bona vacantia for generations. 

Apparently, Edward VIII found cash from those who died intestate in the boundaries of the duchy was sitting in an account in case claims arose against it. He simply stole a million pounds from it, leaving almost nothing in that kitty. 

George VI did very well out of the loyal servicemen who died serving their country in the second world war, who originated from within the confines of the duchy and had no will. ‘For king and country’ took on a whole new meaning. 

The Windsor’s are the most expensive monarchy in Europe by far in terms of state support, and enjoys unique tax treatment available to nobody else, E.G., they pay no inheritance tax. The so-called private estates of the duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are exempt from corporation tax or capital gains tax. Even income tax is only paid voluntarily, and no receipts have ever been made public. 

The sovereign grant was established in 2011 by Lord Cameron of Austerity & Misery; presumably he thought he might one-day, qualify. Today that grant is up to £86m p.a.. 

This is a situation that cannot continue. Perhaps the monarchy is an institution that shouldn’t continue? 

Whilst the Windsors continue to flourish and make merry at our expense, the rest of us suffer. 
 

‘Perhaps the monarchy is an institution that shouldn’t continue?’

 
After the chancellor’s autumn statement pointed to yet more austerity, it is likely that it will also trigger a fire sale of public assets, reduce councils to an emergency service and put the vulnerable at greater risk, as an increasing number of councils becoming insolvent. 

Economists have concluded that last week’s tax cuts are being funded by future public spending. Once settlements for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are taken into account, non-protected government departments in England face an annual cut of 3.4% for 5-years. 

Sir Bob Neill, the Tory MP who chairs the Commons justice select committee, said that there was a case for ‘revisiting which departments should be given protection‘ from spending cuts. 

Traditionally, ministers have chosen to prioritise the NHS and schools, However, local government sources said that after austerity since 2010, there was now an ‘existential threat‘ to local services – while big council tax increases could be on the cards. 

Reactions from council leaders include: ‘Things are starting to fall apart at the seams‘; ‘We need to have a recognition that if we aren’t properly funded the rest of the country will fall over‘; ‘The system is totally and utterly broken.’ 
 

‘if we aren’t properly funded the rest of the country will fall over’

 
Jonathan Carr-West, chief executive of the Local Government Information Unit which has just surveyed the opinions of council leaders, said; ‘I don’t believe that there is a conspiracy to destroy local government. But I think we are sleepwalking towards a position where councils just won’t be viable.’ 

He said that while assets could be sold off in the short term, it would lead to a big transfer of wealth of public assets into private hands.   

In summary, this is an exercise is shrinking the state till further. 

Whilst the king sits in one of his palaces playing ‘Monopoly’ with ill-gotten gains. 
 

‘The foods run short 

And then the money talks 

One way out’ 

Notes: 
 

1. In most of England and Wales, the assets of people who die without making a will and have no identifiable relatives are transferred to the Treasury, which then spends them on public services. The system is known by the Latin name bona vacantia, meaning ‘vacant goods’, or assets that have no owner. 

 
 

Philip has quite rightly shone light on yet another way the rich have been kicking the ladders away from the ramparts for hundreds of years; but what a time to be a political commentator.

In the few hours since Philip filed his copy, young Master Sunak has finally diminished into his trousers and had a little hissy fit about the Elgin Marbles; albeit that it was a smokescreen to divert attention from the growing immigration crisis within and without the Tory party.

Then, he puffed his little chest out to herald Britain’s leading position in developing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and powering Dickie Branson’s PR machine across the Pond by chip fat for the first time.

Except it’s greenwash bullshit; the tailpipe emissions of SAF are equally noxious as those from kerosene – the devil’s (cleverly) in the detail where we learn that SAF is ‘greener’ over the ‘lifecycle’ of the fuel.

One airline was offsetting its bucket ‘n’ spade flight against not cutting down trees. Pardon? How about not running the flight AND not cutting down a tree – i.e. actually reducing emissions.

But by gaslighting the public and greenwashing aviation, he and Mark Harper propone ‘sustainable growth’ in aviation and ‘guilt free’ flying.

The former is an oxymoron, and the latter made possible only if you don’t GAF; and they don’t.

So what was Philip thinking?

There really is the most awful smell permeating throughout this country.

It’s the smell of greed and entitlement, that of by-gone era that has no place in the twenty-first century, especially one that has experienced little but recession and austerity for the past 15-yrs.

We scoff at other countries and their culture of graft and bribes. We laugh at Italy and its ties to organised crime, politicians, and the culture of graft that was exposed by the judges in the “Clean Hands” investigation of the 1990s.

Then there are the so-called  third-world countries that we regard as the home of bribery and corruption.

In fact, we are so busy pouring scorn on “Johnny foreigner” that we have become blind to what goes on here.

There was our newly ennobled foreign secretary badgering the government to put money into Greensill, a business that was on its last legs, to help his share options.

There are billions of pounds of fast-tracked PPE transactions, much of which turned out to be useless.

Even the PM’s wife was using an exemption to manage her tax affairs.

The royal’s; As Don Corleone said in the Godfather, ““One lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns …”

Meanwhile, public services are in disarray, homelessness is on the increase, as is infant mortality, people chose between heating and eating. In short, the few are making-out at the expense of the majority.

Is it any wonder that hard-right politicians are exploiting the situation? We are continuing to harvest the conditions that led to Brexit; anti-establishment, those left-behind.

Lyrically, we start with Depeche Mode and “Just Can’t Get Enough”. We finish with a tribute to Kevin “Geordie” Walker, guitarist with industrial band Killing Joke, and “Wardance”. Enjoy!

@coldwarsteve
 

Philip Gilbert is a city-based corporate financier, and former investment banker.

Philip is a great believer in meritocracy, and in the belief that if you want something enough you can make it happen. These beliefs were formed in his formative years, of the late 1970s and 80s

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