‘Making it illegal for politicians to lie is the best way to rebuild public confidence in the political system’
A historic move to introduce a law that would forbid and make lying in politics illegal has been pledged by the Welsh government. If the bill is passed, lawmakers and candidates running for elections who are found guilty of purposeful deception will be disqualified to serve in the parliament.
Member of the parliament for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency, Adam Price, proposed a four-year disqualification period under the elections bill for lying members, ministers, or candidates found guilty of willful lying at a session on Tuesday.
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Following this development, the Welsh government’s counsel general, Mick Antoniw, disclosed that the legislation would be introduced before the next elections in two years’ time.
He said: “The Welsh government will bring forward legislation before 2026 for the disqualification of members and candidates found guilty of deliberate deception through an independent judicial process.”
According to Price, “What has been announced is truly historic, globally pioneering. We have a commitment from our government that our democracy will be the first in the world to introduce a general prohibition on deception by politicians. We are at the beginning of a global movement. We are going to outlaw political lying.”
Price said that although there had been a decline in public faith in politicians, truth was at the core of democracy. He stressed that it poses an existential risk which might lead to a collapse of the democracy. “We have to innovate, we have to try different things. It’s a small minority of politicians, populist demagogues, that deliberately distort the truth for their own political gain, but they poison the well for everyone. It is never acceptable for politicians to deliberately deceive.”
What you need to know
The parliament of Wales is known officially as Senedd Cymru (Welsh Parliament) while those who are elected to serve there are called called Members of the Senedd.
