Most Britons want Andrew to testify at US probe: poll
Three-quarters of Britons believe Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should give evidence to the US Congress about his links to Jeffrey Epstein, a poll has found.
American lawmakers have criticized the King’s brother for “hiding” from them after he ignored the former prince’s request to sit down for a written interview.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suggested that “if you have relevant information you should be prepared to share it” after Andrew missed the November 20 deadline to respond by members of the House Oversight Committee.
YouGov poll findings found that 75 per cent of people questioned said Andrew should give evidence, 9 per cent said he should not and 16 per cent did not know.
While approximately 78 percent of those in the 25-49 age group believed that they should testify, this rate was 69 percent in the over 65 age group.
Of 4,516 adults questioned, 16 per cent of people over 65 said they were more likely to say Andrew should not give evidence, compared with five per cent of people aged 25 to 49.
The King formally stripped his disgraced brother of the style of Highness and the title of prince, and removed his dukedom from the List of Nobles due to Andrew’s “serious errors of judgement”.
The move comes after Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre posthumously published her memoirs and the US government released documents from Epstein’s estate.
It was revealed that Andrew sent an email to Epstein in 2011 saying “we are in this together”, three months after he claimed to have cut off all contact with the pedophile.
The former Duke of York had been facing allegations of sexual assault for many years after Giuffre was kidnapped by Epstein. Andrew vehemently denies the accusations.
On November 6, a letter signed by 16 members of Congress was sent to Andrew asking him to cooperate with the committee’s investigation into Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
US politicians said the House Oversight Committee had identified “financial records that raise serious questions such as ‘massage for Andrew’.”
Epstein committed suicide in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Meanwhile, a council in Northern Ireland has agreed to start the process of renaming a street called Prince Andrew Way.
The street in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, was named after Andrew to commemorate his wedding to Sarah Ferguson in 1986.
Valerie Watts, interim chief executive of Mid and East Antrim Council, warned there was no council policy to rename the street and it was possible, although not simple.
He said other agencies such as Royal Mail should be consulted and that council staff would carry out a full investigation into what was required and provide a full report to the council.
Councilor Lauren Gray, who suggested renaming the street, suggested preserving the link to the royal family by paying tribute to the late Queen.
