Consent of the Governed

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Dear Mr Armstrong,

Before I respond to your questions, I should like to explain that your
email is not in fact an FOI request, and is being dealt with as standard
correspondence. An FOI request should describe the information
requested, and your emails have simply asked a question. For example, if
you had asked for 'all information, papers and notes relating to the
endorsement of statute', this would have been an FOI request.

Statutes and Acts draw their authority from Parliament, as described in
the preamble to Acts of Parliament "Be it enacted by the Queen's most
Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords
Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same,...". Parliament itself
draws its legitimacy from a number of sources, not least of which is the
participation of the majority of the citizens of the United Kingdom in
its operation, through exercising their right to vote or by paying
taxes.

The Government of the day is formed by the party or parties which can
maintain the confidence of the House of Commons, the democratically
elected chamber. That is the cornerstone of the UK's system of
representative democracy.

The question of withdrawing one's consent to be governed is a more
abstruce question, probably more suited to the realms of political
philosophy than a central government department. You may wish to read
works by authors such as John Rawls, JS Mill, Rousseau, John Locke and
Thomas Hobbes for thoughts in this area. The Laws of England by William
Blackstone also has an interesting discussion on natural allegiance and
tacit consent to be governed.

Thanks

Eirian Walsh Atkins

This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of
the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying
is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all
copies and inform the sender by return e-mail.

Internet e-mail is not a secure medium. Any reply to this message
could be intercepted and read by someone else. Please bear that in
mind when deciding whether to send material in response to this message
by e-mail.

This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be
monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail
monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be
read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not
broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents.

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