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Petition · past parliament

Create watchdog to force campaigners to retract false or misleading claims.

Rejected 13 signatures

What the petition asks

Both Leave and Remain campaigns made misleading, if not blatantly false, claims. There must be a watchdog that can monitor key claims made by campaigners (for general elections and referenda) and force them to retract or qualify them. Otherwise democracy is held ransom by whoever shouts the loudest.

Why it was rejected

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

Create an independent authority to fact-check political campaign materials.

Timeline

25 Jun 2016 Petition opened for signatures
14 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 13
Status Rejected
Rejected 14 Jul 2016

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