Petition · past parliament

Make it an offence for politicians to make false claims or statements to public

Rejected 11 signatures

What the petition asks

Many people feel they cannot trust what polititians tell them in election campaigns and referrendums. This undermines democracy. They should be made to take an oath then should be required to say whether whatever they say is 'factual' or just their opinion. If factual they should disclose the source
During both the Scottish Independence referendum and the recent EU referendum both sides made statements which were exaggerated or simply untrue, and in some cases knowingly untrue.
TV debates do not help present the truth or facts which voters need to make an informed decision.
Democracy only works if voters are given accurate information on which to make their decision. An outcome which has been affected by dishonest campainging cannot reflect the democratic will of the people.

Why it was rejected

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

Timeline

9 Jul 2016 Petition opened for signatures
21 Jul 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 11
Status Rejected
Rejected 21 Jul 2016

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