Taxpayers should pay for Meghan Markle and Prince Harrys security as he served in Afghanistan, Emily Thornberry says

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TAXPAYERS should pay for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s security as he served in Afghanistan, Emily Thornberry has said.

Currently running to replace Jeremy Corbyn, the Shadow Foreign Secretary claimed the public should pick up the bill even if the Duke and Duchess go ahead with the move to leave Britain for Canada.

Emily Thornberry said taxpayers should keep funding the duos security

She compared it to security given to former senior Cabinet ministers and said Prince Harry deserved it because of the time he served in the Army.

But she faced ridicule after saying he had served on the frontline in Afghanistan for 20 years.

That would have meant he started serving when he was just 15 and before British troops were even deployed in Afghanistan.

Ms Thornberry told the Andrew Marr Show: “I think the British taxpayer should pay for the security of Harry and Meghan and their family, as they do with former ministers.

Listen, Harry spent 20 years on the frontline in Afghanistan, through many tours of duty. He has done great service, just on the basis of that.

And I just hate to think what he must be thinking now, having used his instinct to try and defend this country and now he has his much loved wife and baby, under the type of media scrutiny they are suffering.

She added: “Just look at the papers today, 17-18 pages. He, as a man, must be really wanting to defend them and I understand that completely.

“And I also understand that a young couple really ought to be allowed to make their own decisions about what their future should be, and if they decide they want to go to Canada then of course they should always be protected.”

It came as fellow Labour leadership rival Clive Lewis used the current crisis in the Royal Family to voice his support for abolishing the monarchy.

He told Sky News: “I’m a Republican. I actually want to be a citizen in this country not a subject, I want to have real say, real power, I want my community to have real say and real power over its lives.