Welsh Senedd members consider criminalising lying by politicians

Members of the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, are intent on tackling this age-old problem by bringing in legislation that bans politicians from telling untruths.

The former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price, who is leading the charge against the liars, said that in a world of post-truth politics, populism, disinformation and deep fakes, and with elections taking place in the UK and US this year, the issue was vital.

Price has tabled an amendment calling for it to be made illegal for a Senedd member or candidate to wilfully mislead the parliament or the public.

The shadow constitution minister, Darren Millar of the Welsh Conservatives, said: “Untruths and misinformation have been a blight on political discourse in recent years.”

The Welsh first minister, Vaughan Gething, has said he backs the “general principle” of the proposal and would like to see it considered by the standards of conduct committee.

Jennifer Nadel, a co-director of the cross-party thinktank, said: “There are laws that prevent lying in many other professions and areas of public and professional life.