Petition · past parliament
Make it a criminal offence for a politician to lie to the public
Rejected
21 signatures
What the petition asks
We don't want a post-truth democracy. We demand that it be a criminal offence for any politician to lie to the public. The penalty should be a large fine and a ten-year ban from serving in public office. The Electoral Commission should enforce this law and receive adequate resources to do so
The law should apply to:
- All MPs and candidate MPs
- All members of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Irish parliament, and all candidates to those bodies.
- Mayors and mayoral candidates
- Anyone who has any formal position with a referendum campaign group
- Anyone who holds any senior position within a political party,
- All official spokespersons for the above
The law should exclude lies about personal matters of no public interest, such as consensual sexual activity.
- All MPs and candidate MPs
- All members of the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Irish parliament, and all candidates to those bodies.
- Mayors and mayoral candidates
- Anyone who has any formal position with a referendum campaign group
- Anyone who holds any senior position within a political party,
- All official spokespersons for the above
The law should exclude lies about personal matters of no public interest, such as consensual sexual activity.
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
Timeline
| 28 Mar 2017 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 7 Apr 2017 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
21
Status
Rejected
Rejected
7 Apr 2017
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.