83 British district councils are not spending any money to celebrate King Charles

I’m struggling to come up with some kind of American equivalent to Britain’s coronation. Let’s go with the Fourth of July – in cities, towns and counties around America, local governments will organize various taxpayer-funded celebrations for Independence Day. Those celebrations might include a parade, a fireworks display, a concert, what have you. I think most taxpayers support that because those celebrations are for everyone and it’s a national holiday. Apparently, local councils in Britain don’t want to spend any money on “coronation parties,” even though King Charles clearly wants his coronation to be celebrated as a national holiday. The problem is, on a local and national level, Charles’s subjects are really struggling financially. So… there simply isn’t money to spend in many district councils.

King Charles’s local council is one of almost 100 tight-fisted authorities spending nothing on celebrating his Coronation. Cotswold District Council is among the 83 party pooper town halls snubbing the day. The unpatriotic authorities have been branded “disgraceful” and “disappointing” as Brits are being urged to get behind the first Coronation in 70 years on May 6.

For the past 43 years, Charles has lived at Highgrove House in Tetbury, Gloucs. But the Lib Dem-led Cotswold administration has no plans to mark his crowning ceremony.

Local Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “I think it’s an utter disgrace. They could at least find something, particularly with our royal connections — I think people are happy with our Royal connections here. I would expect Cotswold District Council to do something, particularly when we have Highgrove in the area.”

People are being gifted an extra bank holiday to celebrate Charles’s Coronation, with festivities planned to run between May 6 and May 8 across the UK. But our Freedom of Information request revealed the councils not allocating any money to it. They include Camden Council in North West London — home to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Authorities in Bolton, Leeds, Southend, Leicester, Brighton and Middlesbrough have also not set aside any money. There is anger at Labour-led Sunderland City Council’s lack of funds for the May festivities.

The leader of the Tory opposition there, Antony Mullen, said: “It is disgraceful that the council has chosen to allow a niche political view held by a small number of hard-left councillors to prevent residents across our city who want to celebrate the Coronation.”

[From The Sun]

From an economic perspective, I understand why various localities would want to spend the money to host celebrations, simply because that money is being spent within the community, you know? Local vendors, local grocery stories and local pubs, all benefiting from people coming out and buying drinks and little Union Jack flags and what have you. But I also understand why it doesn’t make sense in the middle of Britain’s enormous cost-of-living crisis. People are going broke trying to heat their homes. As Omid Scobie points out, many of the councils which are not allocating money for the Chubbly are the same ones struggling to fund libraries, street maintenance, public parks, etc. Basically, the coronation is a huge waste of money at every level, money which would be much better spent improving the lives of the king’s subjects.

Many of the country’s councils can barely afford to keep libraries open, maintain public parks and cemeteries, run free school travel for special needs students, fix potholes, clean the streets, support the arts… the list goes on. A street party is the LEAST of their concerns. pic.twitter.com/6YYBOgCbJt

— Omid Scobie (@scobie) March 19, 2023

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.