Closed petition PE1998: End legal loopholes for the Monarchy
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to:
legislate to abolish adaptations and exemptions to legislation requested by the Monarchy;
ensure all future communications between the Monarchy, Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament with representatives of the Monarchy are fully transparent and public;
publish the detail of all cases where laws have been adapted at the request of the Monarchy; and
prevent any such alterations to our laws from being implemented in the future.
Previous action taken
Email to Foysol Choudhury MSP 17 October - No response
Email to Sarah Boyack MSP 12 November - No response
Email to Sue Webber MSP 12 November - No response
Email to Jeremy Balfour MSP 12 November - No response
Email to Miles Briggs MSP 12 November - Not supportive
Background information
A Scottish Government memo has revealed that draft laws have been secretly changed to secure the approval of the Monarchy. Most recently the Scottish Parliament and people were denied the right to know whether Charles III had been exempted from emergency law to protect tenants from rent rises and evictions during the cost of living crisis. This consent procedure was used by the Monarch in Scotland in at least 67 instances in which Scottish bills were vetted by Elizabeth Windsor.
Under the King’s consent, the monarch is given advance notice of proposed laws that could affect his personal property and public powers. King’s consent must be sought before the relevant legislation can be approved by Parliament
Last year, the Monarchy’s lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to change a draft law to exempt their private land from a major initiative to cut carbon emissions.
The Scottish Government has refused to publish details about the Monarchy’s lobbying of ministers.
This petition was considered by the Scottish Parliament
7,386 signatures