Welsh Government to ban politicians from lying
The Welsh Government has committed to introduce a law which will make it illegal for politicians to lie.
Mick Antoniw, the Labour-led Government’s counsel general, said it would disqualify Members of the Senedd and candidates from the house if they were found guilty of deliberate deception.
During the debate, Alun Davies, a Labour member, accused Andrew RT Davies, the leader of the Welsh Tories, of tweeting a lie on Tuesday after he claimed Sir Keir’s party wanted to pay illegal immigrants £1,600 a month.
He said: “This takes our politics into the gutter and stops us engaging with each other in real political debate.”
The law would be introduced ahead of the Senedd elections in 2026.
Mr Antoniw 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.”
He said that the details of how the law would work needed to be ironed out and called for cross-party cooperation.
Adam Price, the former Plaid Cymru leader who has led calls for such a law to be introduced, said the announcement was “globally pioneering”.
He said: “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.”
‘Existential threat’
Mr Price said truth was essential to democracy, but noted there had been a collapse in trust in politicians, adding: “That is an existential threat. A democracy starts to break down if the electors can’t trust what the elected say.
“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.”
Lee Waters, the Labour former minister, accused Boris Johnson of becoming prime minister on the back of a campaign of lies.
He said: “Boris Johnson lied his way to Downing Street and lied his way out again. Politics in this country has become darker. The public needs to know they can trust what is being said. Lying cannot become the norm.”
On Tuesday, the Welsh Government committed to the legislation as part of a deal with Plaid Cymru and Mr Waters.
It passed the legislation with 26 votes for, 13 against and with 13 abstentions.
Mr Davies was contacted for comment.
