Elected politicians and candidates in Wales who deliberately lie could face serious consequences, including being removed from office, under proposals aimed at restoring trust in politics.
The Seneddβs (Welsh parliament) standards of conduct committee has recommended legally defining political deception, and strengthening existing rules to explicitly ban misleading statements. Proposed potential penalties range from a formal retraction to suspension or, in extreme cases, recall by voters.
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These efforts see Wales become the first UK nation to attempt to tackle the problem of dwindling trust in politics by modern day legislative force.
Those championing the changes refer to how the deliberate rise in campaigns of misinformation, by those of all political persuasions, have in some instances led to electoral victories overseas.
The need to act is also reflected in the publicβs perception. Surveys have consistently found that trust in politicians to tell the truth has declined. A survey in 2023 placed politicians as the least trusted profession in the UK. Just 9% of the public said they trusted elected officials to tell the truth.
More recently, findings from the British social attitudes report in 2024 revealed that the public is as critical now of how the UK is governed as it has ever been. A record high of 45% of respondents said they now βalmost neverβ trust governments of any party to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own political party.
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While, research had found that more than two-thirds of Welsh voters supported a law criminalising political lying, judicial adjudication for serving Senedd members has been ruled out. The report [opens pdf] also details concerns from the legal professions that existing resource pressures on the courts would have lead to long disputes, rather than the swift resolutions.
But in reality, we are talking about strengthening safeguards for maintaining standards in public offices. In particular addressing deliberate mistruths by politicians to secure deceitful advantages during an election.
In that sense, the new legislation is essentially bringing the political profession in line with others such as lawyers, doctors, journalistic and financial institutions, by having clearer repercussions when they lie and fail to maintain professional standards.
Given the need for something to change in order to restore trust, and the extensive powers that politicians have to affect the lives of citizens, it is clear why Wales is trying a different approach towards restoring trust.