MPs should change the law to stop the Queen vetting bills in the Scottish parliament, Andy Wightman has said.
It comes after the monarch’s lawyers secretly lobbied Scottish ministers to exempt Balmoral from laws designed to help fight climate change.
An investigation by the Guardian revealed last week that the Queen had advanced access to at least 67 Holyrood bills since 1999, when the Parliament was established.
The practice is known as crown consent, a custom inherited from Westminster which deals with legislation which affects the monarch’s public powers, private property or personal interests.
READ MORE: Holyrood: Queen had advanced access to 67 bills, investigation reveals
The investigation revealed that topics amongst the 67 Scottish laws dealt with property taxation, protections from tenants, planning laws and a 2018 bill that prevents forestry workers from entering crown land, including Balmoral, without the Queen’s consent.
And now, it has emerged the latest exemption means the Queen is the only landowner in Scotland who is not subject to compulsory purchase orders for the construction of pipelines which would heat buildings using renewable energy.
Lawyers for the monarch lobbied the Scottish Government to exempt her from the Heat Networks Bill, which was revealed in documents obtained by the LibDems.
The monarch also vetted the Forestry and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018, which transferred power over public forestry in Scotland to Scottish Ministers.
Former MSP Andy Wightman has called for MPs to change the law
Wightman, a former Scottish Greens MSP, told the Sunday Post that the Scotland Act should be amended by Westminster to remove the practice.
The land reform campaigner said: “The Queen is the only landowner in the country who is able to effectively veto and demand changes to laws that govern every other landowner.
“It is anti-democratic and archaic. No-one should be allowed to legislate in their own private interest.
READ MORE: Queen lobbied Scottish Government for exemption to climate law on her private land
“I would like to see the requirement of the Queen’s consent removed in relationship to her personal property and personal interests. With the political will, the Scotland Act could be amended.
“Every government and every parliament should want to make our democracy more democratic, and at the very basis that means being more transparent and accountable, and also removing any residual powers that advantage any particular party.”
The Queen was given access to 67 Holyrood bills through crown consent rules
Royal courtiers and the Scottish Government refused to say how many of the 67 bills were amended as a result of the Queen's intervention.
Willie Rennie, outgoing Lib Dem leader, said: “It seems straightforward that in a modern democracy, a monarch shouldn’t be able to vet new laws or dodge legislation that applies to everyone else.”
Buckingham Palace said there was “no suggestion the Queen has ignored any legal controls that affect other private landowners or abused any of these legal exemptions”.
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