Petition · past parliament

Penalties for lies in election campaigns

Rejected 20 signatures

What the petition asks

After one of the most bitterly fought elections - one thing that many agree on was that there were too many lies on both sides of the debate. Far more than any previous campaign.
Let’s make sure this never happens again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0ktojE6WQA&feature=youtu.be
We the undersigned call upon the government to create an independent agency - who have the authority to fact check official campaign material (leaflets, posters, campaign bus slogans etc) and impose HEAVY penalties for any intention to directly mislead the electorate.

If monetary penalties the agency must have the power to make them large enough to deter even the most well-funded spin campaign.

Advice should be sought from legal experts from fields such as advertising standards.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

24 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
8 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 20
Status Rejected
Rejected 8 Jul 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.