Wales govt to pass law banning politicians from lying in politics

The Welsh government in the United Kingdom has promised to make it illegal for politicians to lie in politics.

The legislation will be brought into effect before the 2026 Senedd (Welsh parliament) election, said the government's counsel general Mich Antoniw, reported The Guardian and BBC.

First country to make political lying illegal

"The Welsh government will bring forward legislation before 2026 for the disqualification of members and candidates found guilty of deliberate deception, though an independent judicial process," Antoniw said to the Senned on Tuesday (Jul. 2), as quoted by BBC.

He said this would make Wales the first country to make political lying illegal.

The law would mean Senned politicians and candidates found guilty of lying would be disqualified from being a Member of the Senedd (MS).

It is not known if the proposed law would make deliberate deception a criminal defence or a civil sanction.

Trust has fallen to an all-time low

Plaid Cymru politician Adam Price, who has called for a ban on lying by politicians, said "What has been announced is truly historic".

"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.”

Price had previously said that trust in what was uttered by politicians had fallen to an all-time low.

The motivation in calling to outlaw political lying, according to Price, was to "restore and rebuild and maintain" trust in democracy.

He maintained that truth was at the heart of democracy.

"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," said Price.

Top image via senedd.wales