Three Banksy artworks have cost the public purse almost £150,000 (€175,000) in removal, security and related costs.
The single largest cost comes from a mural painted on the Royal Courts of Justice in London in September 2025. Removal and security work there has so far cost more than £85,000 (€100,000), according to the BBC.
The removal process is still ongoing and costs are expected to rise.
The mural depicted a helpless protester lying on the ground holding a blood-spattered placard, while a judge loomed over him wielding a gavel. It was largely seen as a response to the UK government’s crackdown on activist group Palestine Action.
A freedom of information request revealed a breakdown of the costs. The Ministry of Justice told the BBC that £50,000 (€59,000) had gone on trying to strip the paint from the Grade II-listed building on Carey Street. A further £35,000 (€41,000) covered overtime and security.
“The Royal Courts of Justice is a listed building and HMCTS are obliged to maintain its original character,” the HM Courts and Tribunals Service said.
The anonymous Bristol-born street artist’s work has also generated costs elsewhere in the capital. A further £60,000 (€70,000) was spent on security barriers, staff and administrative costs to protect a Banksy statue that appeared in London in April. The work depicts a man walking off the end of a plinth. The figure is holding a flag pole, with the fabric covering his face.
In August 2024, he also transformed a City of London police sentry box into a giant piranha tank. The artwork was later removed at a cost of £2,200 (€2,500) and is due to go on permanent display at the London Museum later this year.
Vandalism or art?
The recent cases have renewed debate over the place of Banksy’s work in public spaces and the extent to which public money should be spent protecting or removing it.
Art critic Estelle Lovatt defends Banksy’s work and highlights the benefits for tourism. “Some people visit Buckingham Palace and others visit Banksy’s art,” she told the BBC. “His work brings people together in a way that politics can divide us. He’s like the Pied Piper or a town crier.”
But Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy took a very different view, describing the use of taxpayers’ money to deal with the artwork as “outrageous”. “Our courts are a national symbol of justice and the rule of law,” he said. “Banksy’s vandalism should be stopped and he should foot the bill for the costs he imposes on others.”
Rome’s graffiti problem
In London, the debate centres on a work by one of the world’s most famous artists. In Rome, the problem is far less glamorous as monuments, homes and newly restored buildings find themselves covered in anonymous tags.
The Italian capital has become the unlikely workplace of 28-year-old architectural restorer Valerio Tuveri, who has built a following on Instagram and TikTok by travelling around the city removing tags and graffiti from its historic walls.
Using a sandblaster and a camera phone, Tuveri has become known online as “the guy who cleans Rome”.
His latest project has been Villa Sciarra, a historic landmark in Rome, where fresh graffiti had appeared on newly restored walls. Wearing protective equipment and using a high-pressure sand blaster, he carefully removed the spray paint while preserving the stone underneath.
“I decided to take this path, this ‘battle’, against graffiti because Rome is, in my opinion, the most beautiful city in the world, but at the same time the most vandalised city in Europe,” he says. “There is meaningless writing everywhere: on monuments, private homes, cars and shutters.”
Tuveri believes there is a clear distinction between street art and the indiscriminate tags that cover many of the city’s historic buildings.
He says Italy should crack down harder on those responsible. He is calling for more surveillance cameras, stricter security checks and tougher financial penalties to discourage offenders.