Tag: Westminster Hall

Burial and lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth cost £161.7m

The total price for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and time spent lying in state has been made public.

According to the Treasury, it reportedly cost the government £161.7 million.

When Her Majesty was laid-in-state in Westminster Hall last year, more than 250,000 people stood in queue for five days to pay their respects.

When mourners lined up to meet the former king who passed away on September 8, “the queue” was at times longer than 24 hours.

The number was fewer than the total to see her father King George VI lie in state over five days, which is thought to have been 305,806.

The biggest costs were covered by the Home Office (£74m) and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (£57m).

John Glen, chief secretary to the Treasury, said the government’s priority at the time had been to make sure ‘these events ran smoothly and with the appropriate level of dignity, while at all times ensuring the safety and security of the public’.

In a written ministerial statement made to Parliament, Mr Glen said the Treasury had provided additional funding where necessary and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments were ‘fully’ refunded for their respective costs.

Queen’s funeral – estimated costs

•            Department for Culture, Media & Sport – £57.42m

•            Department for Transport – £2.565m

•            Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office – £2.096m

•            Home Office – £73.68m

•            Ministry of Defence – £2.890m

•            Northern Ireland Office – £2.134m

•            Scottish Government – £18.756m

•            Welsh Government – £2.202m

•            Total – £161.743m

The procession from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey took 17 minutes (Picture: REUTERS)

A steady flow of people made their way through Westminster Hall to see the Queen lying in state (Picture: Getty)

People line up along the Thames for the Lying-in State of Queen Elizabeth II on September 18 (Picture: Rex)

However, it did not include the number to pay their respects in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, where the Queen also lay in state after dying at Balmoral estate in Scotland.

The queue in London was constantly busy since the lying in state began, with the government repeatedly warning people to stay away to avoid disappointment towards the end.

After Queen Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022 aged 96, the UK started 10 days of national mourning.

The late Queen’s coffin was laid to rest in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh for 24 hours, before the monarch was transported to Westminster Abbey in London where thousands of mourners queued for hours to pay their respects.

This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.

May 19, 2023
Johnson requests UK to send fighter jets and tanks to Ukraine

The UK needs to give Ukrainian troops the extra equipment they need to “defeat Putin and restore peace,” according to former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking about the military assistance required to aid Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, Mr. Johnson urged Rishi Sunak to give Ukraine more tanks and jets.

He said: “We have more than 100 Typhoon jets. We have more than 100 Challenger 2 tanks. The best single use for any of these items is to deploy them now for the protection of the Ukrainians—not least because that is how we guarantee our own long-term security.”

The Tory MP went on to say that the investment would help push Mr Putin back and “make our world safer.”

“Now is the time to give them exactly what they need to finish the job,” he added.

Mr Johnson’s call reiterates comments he made during a tour of the US last week in which he called for the West to send F-35s and Typhoons to Kyiv.

The repeated call also comes in the wake of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech at Westminster Hall today.

Mr Zelensky used an address to the parliament to call for more fighter jets and said he wanted a coalition of nations to supply planes.

However, Mr Sunak continues to resist calls for fighter jets, with the PM’s spokesman saying it would take years to train pilots to fly the jets.

February 8, 2023
Queen’s service: Dean of Westminster begins

Around 2,000 people are in attendance for the late monarch’s funeral service, which is been inaugurated by Dr. David Hoyle this morning.

He says: “With gratitude, we remember her unswerving commitment to a high calling over so many years as Queen and head of the Commonwealth.

“With admiration, we recall her lifelong sense of duty and dedication to her people. With thanksgiving, we praise God for her constant example of Christian faith and devotion.

“With affection, we recall her love for her family and her commitment to the causes she held dear.

“Now, in silence, let us in our hearts and minds remember our many reasons for thanksgiving.”

Westminster Abbey is otherwise silent as those in attendance listen intently to the Dean of Westminster.

He notes that Westminster Abbey was where she was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953.

The bidding was given ahead of the first hymn, ‘The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended’, written by John Ellerton.

Sky’s royal commentator Alastair Bruce said the hymn marks “the end of one era and the beginning of a new one”.

September 19, 2022
Lying in state of Queen: Man charged with public order offence

A man has been charged with a public order offence after being detained on Friday night in Westminster Hall where the Queen is lying in state.

Following a member of the public leaving the line of mourners and approaching the Queen’s coffin on Friday night, there were complaints of “a disturbance” in the solemn hall, according to the police.

The person “moved out of the queue and towards the catafalque (raised platform)” before they were “removed from the hall and the queue reopened with minimal disturbance,” according to a representative for the parliament.

The event took place while a quick cutaway in the live feed from within Westminster Hall occurred.

On Saturday night, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “A man who was arrested in Westminster Hall on Friday, September 16, has been charged.

“Muhammad Khan, 28, of Barleycorn Way, Tower Hamlets, was charged on Saturday, September 17, with an offense under Section 4A of the Public Order Act; behavior intending to cause alarm, harassment or distress.”

He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday, the same day as the Queen’s state funeral.

Khan is the second person to be charged with committing an offense while in the queue to see the Queen’s coffin lying in state.

A 19-year-old man allegedly exposed himself and pushed mourners from behind as they waited in the line at Victoria Tower Gardens on Wednesday.

Adio Adeshine is said to have gone into the River Thames in an attempt to evade police before coming out and being arrested.

He was remanded in custody on Friday after appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

September 18, 2022
Queen’s lying-in-state: China barred from Westminster Hall

It has been reported that a Chinese government delegation has been banned from attending the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II.

House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle refused a request for access to Westminster Hall due to Chinese sanctions against five MPs and two peers, Politico first reported.

Last year, China imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Britons – including seven parliamentarians – for accusing Beijing of mistreating Uighur Muslims.

That led to China’s ambassador to the UK being banned from Parliament – a move which has now been extended to a delegation that wanted to pay their respects at Queen Elizabeth’s lying-in-state.

UK-China relations are already strained and this ban is unlikely to help.

However, China’s vice-president is expected to attend Monday’s state funeral which will be held across the road from Parliament at Westminster Abbey.

According to the parliamentary rule book Erskine May, in 1965 Queen Elizabeth II consented that control of Westminster Hall would be shared between the Lord Great Chamberlain – who is appointed by the monarch – and the speakers of both the Commons and the Lords.

There is no specific mention regarding control of access for an occasion such as a lying-in-state, but when it comes to “invitations to foreign dignitaries to address both Houses in Westminster Hall” these are “ordinarily” issued by the agreement of all three.

Last September, Sir Lindsay and Lord’s Speaker Lord McFall told China’s ambassador to the UK he could not come to Parliament because of Beijing’s sanctions.

At the time that ban was criticised by the Chinese government as “despicable and cowardly”.

On Thursday, the group of seven MPs and peers, including former Tory ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Tim Loughton, urged the Foreign Secretary to withdraw an invitation to President Xi of China to attend the Queen’s funeral.

They said it would be “wholly inappropriate” for the Chinese government to be represented, given its human rights record.

Mr Laughton told BBC News: “You cannot have a Golden Age, normal relations, with a country that has now been exposed as committing the sorts of atrocities it has, not least the genocide against the Uighurs, the oppression going on in Tibet for the last 60/70 years, and now what we see going on in Hong Kong as well.”

Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on officials in China following rights abuse allegations against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.

China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.

It has denied the allegations of abuse, claiming the camps are “re-education” facilities used to combat terrorism.

China’s President Xi Jinping is on the guest list for the state funeral but is not thought likely to attend.

British officials expect the country will instead be represented by Vice President Wang Qishan.

A Downing Street spokesman said it was a convention that countries with which the UK has diplomatic relations should be invited to state funerals.

Queen Elizabeth is set to lie in state there until her funeral on Monday.

Source: BBC

September 16, 2022