Why not work towards levelling the cost of living across the country as well?
Would take decades, but surely - in a relatively small island such as ours - this ought to be a goal.
Trouble is, everything is designed to be SE and London centric; transport links and lack of investment elsewhere...
Once you've binned the monarchy, it's not coming back.
For the drop in the ocean it costs p.a., I for one would say to the anti brigade "Be careful what you wish for".