PA
The monarchy is to receive a boost of more than £45 million, with a 53 per cent jump in its official annual income to more than £130 million.
Soaring profits from the Crown Estate to £1.1 billion means the taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, which supports the official duties of the royal family, will increase from £86.3 million in 2024/2025 to £132 million in 2025/2026.
Officials said the increase will be used to help fund the final stages of the 10-year £369 million renovation of Buckingham Palace, keeping it on time and budget.
It comes as MPs voted down calls to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The cap was introduced in 2015 by then-Conservative chancellor George Osborne and restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who tabled the amendment, said: “Tonight, the Labour Party has failed its first major test in government.
“Labour MPs had the opportunity to deliver meaningful change from years of Tory misrule by immediately lifting thousands of children out of poverty – they have made a political choice not to do so.
“This is now the Labour government’s two-child cap – and it must take ownership of the damage it is causing, including the appalling levels of poverty in the UK.”
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