We have a brief and genuine opportunity to change the law — and it may not come again.
Our amendment to close the loophole that allows politicians to lie with impunity is now formally on the table in Westminster. Because the Third Reading of the Hillsborough Law has been delayed, a short window has opened to persuade the Government to accept it.
But that window is narrow, and it will only stay open if we act quickly.
If we can get the amendment passed, it would provide a real safeguard to our democracy. Politicians who practice deliberate deception could find themselves prosecuted for misleading the public. We only need to look across the Atlantic to see the damage that can be done to democracy when politicians are able to lie with impunity. We cannot allow that to happen here.
This is a unique opportunity at a dangerous moment. The Hillsborough law
The amendment would ensure that the new offence of deliberately misleading the public applies to MPs and peers. At the moment it just applies to public officials which includes ministers but not backbenchers. This is a missed opportunity to protect democracy and creates an anomaly whereby the majority of politicians would be held to a less high standard of honesty than those who work for them.
We know the Government is persuadable — but persuasion takes work.
Over the coming days we need to brief MPs and ministers, respond rapidly to pushback, support allies inside Parliament, and keep public and media pressure alive while this decision is still live. This is an extraordinary opportunity to get a guard rail in place to protect democracy from the Trumpian distortions we have seen unravelling democracy in the United States.
Our immediate goal is to raise £5,000 to cover this final push — the practical costs of getting the amendment over the line while this opportunity exists.
Many of you have already taken action by writing to your MP, sharing our work, or standing with us publicly. Thank you. That support is exactly why we are this close.
If you are able to donate now, even modestly, you would be helping us do the last, intensive stretch of work needed to make this amendment stick.
This is one of those moments where progress does not come gradually — it either happens now, or it slips away.
Thank you for everything you have already done, and for believing, as we do, that democracy cannot survive if truth is optional.
With gratitude and resolve,
Compassion in Politics