Politicians who deliberately lie could be forced from office in Wales

Elected politicians who deliberately lie could be forced from office under proposals designed to put Wales at the forefront of the “global challenge” to restore trust in politics.

Radical changes suggested by the Welsh parliament standards committee would also make candidates in elections liable to criminal prosecution for making any false statement to win votes.

The Welsh government has committed to introduce “globally pioneering” legislation aimed at making lying in politics in Wales illegal by next year and asked the Senedd’s standards of conduct committee to investigate the best way of doing it.

Committee members recommended strengthening the Senedd code of conduct, which applies to the behaviour of members inside and outside the parliament, and said it should explicitly state that members must not make deliberately misleading statements.

If a member was caught lying, the committee said they should be asked to retract the falsehood and the correction would be placed on their profile on the Senedd website.

They could also face suspension and, in extreme cases, be “recalled and removed” by voters and replaced with another member of their party.

The committee said it had looked at bringing in a law to make lying for elected politicians illegal in Wales but thought this would be too complex.

There is already legislation in Wales that makes it an offence for political candidates to make or publish a false statement of fact about the personal conduct or character of a rival to win votes.

The committee is recommending widening the scope of the offence to cover any false statement made by a Welsh candidate to seek electoral advantage. If this law was broken, the candidate would be subject to investigation by the police and prosecution by an electoral court.

The issue is seen as particularly urgent in Wales because changes to the voting system at next year’s Senedd elections and an increased size of parliament are likely to make the campaign particularly febrile, with Reform UK having a good chance of winning seats.

Hannah Blythyn, the chair of the committee, said toughening rules for Senedd members and candidates was critical at a time when public trust in institutions was low.

She said: “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.”

Sam Fowles, the director of the Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research, said: “This report is a rejection of the counsels of doom which say that demanding politicians are honest is just too difficult.

“We have professional regulations which require other professions to act honestly. We need to hold politicians to the same professional standards we expect from others.”

Jennifer Nadel, a co-director of the thinktank Compassion in Politics, said: “This report puts Wales firmly at the forefront of the battle against political deception. However, the report falls short of calling for serving members to be subject to criminal sanction, instead relying on beefing up existing standards mechanisms. We would like to see it go further in this respect. The Senedd is acting and we now call on Westminster to follow suit.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said it would consider the findings and recommendations before responding formally.