Over the last week there have been fresh revelations about secret royal lobbying. The Scottish government was caught up in the row last week, defending the secrecy as necessary to maintain "the appearance of impartiality."
This excuse is, of course, nonsense. Impartiality has to be fact, not appearance.
Now Charles is accused of being involved in a cash-for-access scandal, agreeing to meet with rich and powerful people as part of a 'concierge' business that has close ties to the Conservative party.
This is why royal secrecy is such a problem. It allows lobbying to go on without any proper scrutiny, which erodes public trust in the political system.
With Charles and the Queen there's an added layer to all this: the royal consent rule that allows them to insist on changes to legislation going through parliament. It was new environmental laws passed by the Scottish parliament this year which have thrown up fresh questions about royal powers and secrets.
So we've set up a new petition aimed at the Scottish and Westminster parliaments, calling for an end to royal secrecy and the royal consent rule.
actionstorm.org/petitions/ban-royal-lobbying
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