Move the Queen to a Council House Say UK Green Party

UK Green leader outlines the party's election manifesto ahead of this year's general election, which includes abolishing the monarchy and building more council housing.

MOSCOW, January 24 (Sputnik) – The leader of the UK Green Party has said in an interview with the Times that under a Green government, the Queen would be evicted from Buckingham Palace, but, being entitled to join the social housing register, would not need to worry about the future since one of the party's proposals is a mass program of house-building to tackle the country's housing deficit.

After abolishing the monarchy, as the Greens propose, the Queen would have to leave Buckingham Palace and find alternative accommodation: "I can't see that the Queen is ever going to be really poor, but I'm sure we can find a council house for her — we're going to build lots more," party leader Natalie Bennett told the newspaper.

Under the Greens' plans, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would also have to leave Kensington Palace and contend with the UK's housing shortage, which the party aims to tackle with proposals including greater financial support to local housing associations, and the encouragement of housing cooperatives and self-build projects.

The Greens would also require the Queen to pay a wealth tax levied on individuals with assets of more than £3 million, proposed by the party at a rate of one or two percent. The top rate of tax, Bennett told the Times, would likely be higher than the 50p rate on earnings over £100,000 that the party advocated at the last general election in 2010.

The tax rises would pay for a rise in the national minimum wage to £10 an hour, as well as a £71 per week "citizen's wage," paid to all adults. "The assumption is that those of working age will top it up, but pensioners and the disabled will need extra help. It means that no one falls through the gaps," said Bennett, who worked as a journalist before becoming leader in 2012.

Ofcom controversially excluded the Greens from the planned televised debates featuring the leaders of all main parties ahead of the UK general election due to be held in May 2015, due to a lack of members. This resulted in the Green Party seeing a surge in membership in recent weeks to 43,829, including 2,000 members on January 14.

The party now boasts more members than UKIP, which had already been offered the fourth slot on the debating stage by Ofcom. UKIP told the the Scottish Herald on January 15 it had 41943 members, while the traditional third party of British politics, the Liberal Democrats, reported in November a total of 44,576 members. The Welsh national party Plaid Cymru with 8,000 members and the Scottish National Party with 92,000 have also asked to take part in the televised debates.