Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid)

Meeting date: Thursday, June 30, 2022

Official Report 778KB pdf

Point of Order

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The Guardian has uncovered an internal Scottish Government memo that confirms that the Government “almost certainly” made changes to legislation at the request of the Queen’s lawyers. Alterations to exempt Crown interests in the royal household from certain aspects of law were made before legislation was introduced to the Parliament. We do not know what changes were made or even which bills were changed, and the Parliament and the public deserve to see and understand those changes.

Presiding Officer, I ask for your guidance on how the Parliament and the people of this country can get sight of the changes that were made to legislation at the request of the Queen’s lawyers before it was introduced to the Parliament.

I thank Mr Cole-Hamilton for his contribution. Parliament has, of course, taken steps to increase transparency and awareness of the process, but as this is a matter that relates to pre-introduction of bills, it is entirely a matter for the Government.