HM Government response to the withholding of Royal Assent (2008)

Dear Sir or Madam,

My Freedom of Information request relates to the monarch's
theoretical power to withhold the Royal Assent to any parliamentary
bill that has completed all its stages through the House of Commons
and the House of Lords.

a. Does the Cabinet Office or Cabinet Secretary hold any documents
drawn up or revised in 2008 relating to HM Government's plans
should the monarch withhold his or her assent to a government bill?

b. Does the Cabinet Office or Cabinet Secretary hold any documents
drawn up or revised in 2008 relating to HM Government's plans
should the monarch withhold his or her assent to any other
parliamentary bill?

c. If such documents exist, could the Cabinet Office or Cabinet
Secretary please release them into the public domain for debate and
consultation.

Yours faithfully,

Gavin Whenman

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to Sue Gray, Director of the Cabinet Office
(email: [email address]), who I have been told is the person who
conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Cabinet Office's
handling of my FOI request 'HM Government response to the
withholding of Royal Assent (2008 – 1997)'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/hm...

I believe the reply that it would be too costly to provide this
information is disingenuous. The provision of information which the
Cabinet Secretary admitted in 1995 is "always in the files" (Peter
Hennessy, The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution,
pp.45 - 6) cannot be too costly, nor should it take longer than
three and a half working days. If the monarch were to abdicate I'm
sure the Government's response would barely take three and a half
hours.

I request that the original decision be rescinded and the
information provided.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin Whenman