Mr Devine said taxpayers should not foot the princesses' police bill

Livingston MP Jim Devine was responding to newspaper claims that round-the-clock police protection for the young Royals costs �500,000 a year.

Mr Levine said the pair "flirt and flaunt their way through the nightclubs of Europe" and the taxpayer should not have to foot the bill to protect them.

Buckingham Palace refused to comment.

The Daily Mirror quoted senior police sources who said Prince Andrew's elder daughter Beatrice, 19, had been accompanied by a Special Branch guard throughout her gap year.

This has included trips to Argentina, Brazil, Spain and Belgium.

In total, the paper said, the bill for royal protection would exceed �30m this year.

Nurses and operations

Mr Devine said: "It is not the role of the British taxpayer to pay for the protection of two junior members of the Royal Family as they flirt and flaunt their way through the nightclubs of Europe."

The Duke of York is divorced from the princesses' mother

He said �500,000 a year could "employ 20 nurses, carry out 125 hip replacement operations or perform 100 heart bypass operations".

"That is why I have today written to the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith asking her to make a statement to Parliament explaining who made this decision, at what cost, and what services are being provided," Mr Devine said.

The MP said he had also written to Prince Andrew asking him to follow the lead of his sister the Princess Royal who is reported to have refused similar police cover for her children.

But he was interrupted in the Commons by Deputy Speaker Sir Michael Lord before he could continue his point.

"You should know that it is not the practice to discuss the security of individuals on the floor of the House for obvious reasons," Sir Michael said.

Asked about Mr Devine's comments, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "We are unable to comment on security issues".