Ministers MUST correct the record if they make a false statement to the House.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

All too often, in response to questions from opposition parties, the PM and other government ministers make inaccurate statements to the House. All too often they are not obliged to correct their errors. This an abuse of public office and must lead to punitive measures against ministers concerned.

Prime Minister‘s Questions in particular has fallen into disrepute. The PM frequently avoids answering questions from the Opposition or provides inaccurate responses and gets away with it with impunity. The Speaker must be obliged to penalise ministers who behave in this way with warnings to correct inaccurate statements and respond accurately to unanswered questions within a certain timeframe with the penalty of suspension from the House if they fail to do the Speaker‘s bidding.

Why it was rejected

The UK Government or Parliament was already taking the action it asked for.

It's already the case that misleading the House is required to be corrected, with intentional misleading a potential contempt. You can find out more here:

https://erskinemay.parliament.uk/section/5022/members-deliberately-misleading-the-house/

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/contempt-parliament

Timeline

12 Mar 2021	Petition opened for signatures
13 Apr 2021	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21

Status Rejected

Rejected 13 Apr 2021

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