Senedd Committee recommends crackdown on politicians who deliberately lie

Emily Price

The Senedd Standards Committee has unveiled its plans to crackdown on politicians who deliberately lie.

In a report published today (19 February 2025), the Committee recommended expanding electoral law for Senedd election candidates and said there should be a mechanism for MSs to be disqualified from office if they deliberately mislead.

In January, calls were made for a new recall system which would allow voters to remove and replace an MS if they seriously breach the Code of Conduct.

Now the Committee is going further, calling on the Welsh Government to strengthen the law to prevent and punish politicians and election candidates who deliberately lie.

When developing recommendations for the Welsh Government, members of the Committee heard evidence from independent academics and organisations.

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The report is calling for:

• A toughening of existing laws covering Senedd elections, expanding an existing offence to include deliberate deception by candidates.
• The Code of Conduct for MSs to be strengthened, adding an explicit rule to cover deception, and note it online if MSs have lied.
• More independence when investigating complaints and allowing people who aren’t politicians to sit on the Standards of Conduct Committee.
• An increase in the Standards Commissioner’s powers – allowing them to initiate their own investigations rather than waiting for complaints to be submitted.
• MSs to publicly correct false statements and sanction members who fail to do so.

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Changes

Chair of the Senedd’s Standards Committee, Hannah Blythyn, said: "Toughening rules for Members of the Senedd and candidates standing for election is critical at a time when public trust in our institutions is low.

"The next Senedd election in 2026 will bring big changes to how our parliament is elected and structured. It is only right that we use this opportunity to review the way politicians conduct themselves during elections and after they elected.

"The Senedd must represent the people of Wales effectively and people should be able to trust those who represent them. Our report is putting forward recommendations to radically enhance our rules and make it clear to anyone who wants to hold public office that deliberately deceiving is not acceptable.

"By strengthening the law governing elections, toughening our Code of Conduct and giving more power and independence to those investigating complaints, we can start to rebuild public trust in our political institutions and support a parliament fit for the future."

Misled

Sam Fowles is a Director of the Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research and a barrister.

He has appeared in many of the most significant "political lying" cases of recent years including when Scotland's highest civil court determined that Boris Johnson had misled the Queen over the prorogation of Parliament.

Mr Fowles says the Senedd committee's report "quite rightly" rejects claims that it's "just too difficult" to demand honesty from politicians.

He said: "Without political honesty, democracy cannot function. We cannot hold power to account, or have a meaningful public debate, unless we base that debate in reality.

"Unfortunately some - thankfully not all - politicians seem worryingly willing to embrace lying for political gain. Fortunately, the public is ahead of politicians on this, with the vast majority of voters supporting a law to punish political liars.

"This report is, quite rightly, a rejection of the counsels of doom which say that demanding politicians are honest is just too difficult or that politicians have a right to deceive the public.

"The existing law already gives us the ingredients for an effective law against lying in politics. We just need to use the tools we already have."

Regulations

Mr Fowles added: "The criminal law and the law of defamation already define and prohibit deliberate deception. We already have professional regulations which require other professions - like lawyers and doctors - to act honestly.

"We don’t need to re-invent the wheel; we just need to hold politicians to the same professional standards we expect from others.

"But this report is only the start of the process. The focus now switches back to the Welsh Government. They have committed to a law which will genuinely penalise political liars before 2026.

"The Standards Committee has told them it can be done. The Welsh Government now needs to draft a law that isn’t just symbolic, but genuinely effective.

"At minimum, it must ensure that the new rules are enforced by an independent tribunal, that MSs and candidates are held to the same standards of truth telling, and that justice is speedy and transparent."

The Welsh Government must now respond to the report and its recommendations.