Closed petition Review and hold a referendum on the presence of a Monarchy in the UK

Closed on 5 August 2012

The British monarchy is not representative and therefore has no accountability or mandate, is not impartial on government matters, contradicts democracy, devalues achievement and is estimated to cost the British taxpayers around £200m a year, making it the most expensive constitutional monarchy in Europe. Currently all bills passed by the House of Lords and the House of Commons have to be ratified by the Monarch, why? It is not representative so they have no place to do this, it seems an awfully bureaucratic way to do business; as the coalition is committed to cutting bureaucracy in public services, why should the monarchy be immune from these changes? With the parliament looking to reduce the number of hereditary peers in the House of Lords, why should this hereditary system be kept? I would like to see a review of the cost, powers and presence of the monarchy, followed by a referendum on whether the public wants to keep the monarchy and its current place in our political system.