SNP MPs should be given the chance to reaffirm their loyalty to the Queen, the House of Commons has been told.
Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg asked for a parliamentary debate in the aftermath of the “brouhaha” over Scottish funding for the monarch.
A briefing on the royal accounts led to allegations that the Scottish Government could cut its contribution to the British monarchy by between £1 million and £1.5m if plans for further devolution went ahead.
However, Sir Alan Reid, the keeper of the Privy Purse, later insisted that the briefing was “never intended to be a criticism of Scotland”.
Both the Scottish and UK Governments have said they did not expect devolution to have any negative impact on Scotland’s contribution to funding the monarchy.
Rees-Mogg asked the Leader of the Commons Chris Grayling: “Following the brouhaha there has been over the Crown Estate, the Scotland Bill and the Sovereign Grant Act, will you make time available for a debate to allow our friends in the Scottish National Party to reaffirm their loyalty to our and their sovereign?”
Tory frontbencher Grayling replied: “Well, I note the welcome nods from the members of the Scottish National Party.
“I have to say I’m very glad to see (First Minister Nicola Sturgeon) this morning has clarified the situation in no uncertain terms.”
Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace has said the Queen is “politically neutral on the EU”, after a speech where she spoke of the need for unity in Europe was interpreted by some as a foray into the EU debate.
At a state banquet in Berlin the Queen said that “division in Europe is dangerous”.
She told her host the German President Joachim Gauck and his guests: “In our lives, Mr President, we have seen the worst but also the best of our continent. We have witnessed how quickly things can change for the better.
“But we know that we must work hard to maintain the benefits of the post-war world. We know that division in Europe is dangerous and that we must guard against it in the West as well as in the East of our continent.”
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “As ever, the Queen is above politics and is politically neutral on the EU.”
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