Dear supporters
On Monday, I gave evidence to the Welsh Parliament about how many of us want to see action taken to prevent lying in Politics.
The Parliament is considering the law, which we helped draft, which would make deliberate deception by politicians a criminal offence.
I was giving evidence to the Standards Committee along with Dr Sam Fowles - a leading barrister. Dr Fowles knows a thing or two about lying. He helped stop the illegal prorogation of parliament and was also on the team who won the case against the Post Office.
The session was extended as members had so many questions. I pointed to the recent IPSOS survey that showed that only 8% of the public think that politicians tell the truth.
Dr Fowles, the lawyer who proved that Boris Johnson had misled the Queen told them:
“The public is crying out for change. Polling by Opinium for Compassion in Politics shows 72% support criminalising politicians who lie to the public. The Senedd now has the opportunity to pass such a law.
“The proposed Clause 64 of the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill will make it a criminal offence (punishable by a ban from the Senedd of up to 4 years) for MS or candidates to “wilfully and with intent to mislead make, publish or cause to be published on their behalf, a statement purporting to be a statement of fact which they know to be false or deceptive in any material particular.”
Whilst the three opposition parties are backing our measure, unfortunately the Welsh Government is opposing it. We are doing everything we can to change the government’s mind. If Wales passes this measure, our hope is that Westminster and other parliaments will follow.
Please help us to do the best job we can to bring about this important change in the law.
If you are fed up with lies in politics, and mistruths twisting votes and steering the country down a path that you don’t recognise, then join us and back our campaign. We are making strides but to ease off now would be to keep on letting the lies win.
End the lies.
Kind regards
Jennifer
Co-Founder,
Compassion in Politics.