Queen’s secret influence on laws revealed in Scottish government memo

Scottish government memo reveals almost certain’ draft laws have been secretly changed.

Under an arcane mechanism known as Queen’s consent, the monarch is routinely given advance sight of proposed laws that could affect her personal property and public powers.

In Scotland , where the procedure is known as crown consent, research by the Guardian identified at least 67 instances in which Scottish bills were vetted by the Queen.

The Scottish government said it was legally obliged to apply crown consent under the legislation that set Holyrood up.

But it said secrecy about the content and outcome of its discussions with the Queen ’s representatives was justified.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the contents of the Scottish government memo.