ACCORDING to the latest press reports (Daily Telegraph, November 18) the taxpayer will have to stump up £369 million for urgent repairs to Buckingham Palace.

Shortly after learning that information, I listened to a BBC discussion on the cuts to certain welfare benefits to take effect from next April and, in particular, was impressed by the comment of a young Conservative Member of Parliament HeIdi Allen who said with, I felt, genuine plausibility that the proposed cuts to Employment and Job Seekers Allowance would leave some 500,000 people with disability £30 a week worse off - representing a cut of 29 per cent in their weekly income and causing very real hardship to those affected.

Of course, so long as we have a constitutional monarchy, it is important that Buckingham Palace is properly maintained but would it be too much to ask that one or more of the other royal residences such as Balmoral Castle or Sandringham are sold and the money used to assist in the repairs to Buckingham Palace, thereby releasing money for other purposes?

Gordon Cann

Craigmoor Avenue, Bournemouth