On the 17th July Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda and Ogmore, said that "Sometimes you have to put things in statutory form to give them the bite they need to be effective".
As a qualified barrister, I could not agree more. If we want to keep our democracy safe, we need to use the law to protect it.
So, we were thrilled that at the state opening of parliament, King Charles III announced that a duty of candour will be introduced for public servants.
Glaring omission:
The duty of candour is a vital step towards restoring public trust. However, there is one glaring omission: politicians themselves will not be bound by this law.
This creates a situation where public servants will be held to stricter standards than their political masters. With public trust in politicians at an all time low, just 9% of the public say they believe what politicians say, urgent action is needed.
We need to legislate to ensure that politicians themselves face meaningful sanctions if they’re dishonest. And with your help we can do just that.
You may have read that earlier this month, we helped to persuade the Welsh Government to to introduce legislation to disqualify any politician or candidate found to have made a deliberately false factual statement.
Now we are turning our sights to Westminster.
An end to lying in politics, with a law truly banning it on a statutory level, is something we can achieve in the next few years if we have the right support. We need to create a movement to ensure it happens.
So we are writing to invite you to join us. Click here to become a member today.
We only need to look across the Atlantic to see what happens when political lying is allowed to spread unchecked. We have the chance to do something about it here before it’s too late.
So, join us if you can and let's ban lying in politics.
With warmest wishes,
Jennifer
Co-Director
Compassion in Politics.