Court battle over access to Prince Charles’ letters to Government ministers

Newspaper journalist Rob Evans is accusing Dominic Grieve, the Government’s principal legal adviser, of acting unlawfully and failing to show “reasonable grounds” for overriding a decision of the Upper Tribunal.

The tribunal declared in September 2012 that Mr Evans and the public were entitled to see the letters under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), and under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.The Government departments concerned with the correspondence did not appeal against the decision of the tribunal, which was headed by High Court judge Mr Justice Walker.

Instead - in what is thought to be a unique situation - the Attorney General issued a certificate under section 53 of the FOIA in October 2012 and rendered the tribunal decision ineffective.Mr Grieve said, in his opinion, the departments were legally entitled to refuse disclosure because the correspondence was undertaken as part of the Prince’s “preparation for becoming king”.

Making the letters public could potentially damage the principle of the heir to the throne being politically neutral, and so undermine his ability to fulfil his duties when king, said Mr Grieve.

Mr Evans, who works for The Guardian, says he is fighting to shed more light “on the way the heir to the throne seeks to influence government ministers. He applied to see a number of written communications between Charles and various Government ministers between September 2004 and April 2005.The Information Commissioner upheld the refusal of disclosure, but Mr Evans won the Upper Tribunal decision overturning the commissioner.

The tribunal judges ruled that Mr Evans was entitled to “advocacy correspondence” from Charles, described as letters he had written seeking to advance the work of charities or to promote views.

Yesterday Dinah Rose QC, appearing for Mr Evans, asked three appeal judges to quash the Attorney General’s decision trumping the tribunal ruling.

The departments Charles wrote to include Business, Innovation and Skills; Health; Children, Schools and Families; Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Culture, Media and Sport.