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https://www.positive.news/society/the-campaign-to-outlaw-lying-in-politics/>
"“Always ask yourself: Why is this lying bastard lying to me?” Perhaps these
blunt words of advice for journalists interviewing politicians, attributed to
the late foreign correspondent Louis Heren, have endured because they are seen
as self-evidently true. That politicians lie is viewed as established fact.
Public confidence in lawmakers plunged to a record low last year in the wake of
Partygate and other scandals: only 9% of British adults polled by Ipsos said
that they trust politicians to tell the truth. Without trust, says Jennifer
Nadel of the thinktank Compassion in Politics, faith in democracy is
undermined. “If we can’t trust what politicians are saying, how can we decide
who to vote for? We need to be able to rely on our politicians to tell the
truth,” she explains.
Compassion in Politics has long been campaigning to introduce criminal
penalties for political lying, with a petition launched in 2019 attracting more
than 200,000 signatures. In a surprise move two days before the UK’s general
election, the Welsh government committed to passing legislation that would make
lying illegal for Senedd members and candidates, having previously opposed the
measure. Under the plans, those found guilty of deliberate deception by an
independent judicial process would be disqualified from office.
“We’re excited and optimistic,” Nadel says. “It’s unprecedented that the
government has agreed to take this measure forward.” Although some countries
have limited penalties for politicians who lie during election campaigning or
when giving evidence to committees, Wales is the first in the world to propose
legislation that would apply more broadly to lawmakers and candidates.
Compassion in Politics’ next challenge is to persuade Westminster to follow
suit by banning MPs and parliamentary candidates from lying.
The campaign sprung from concern at the rapid normalisation of lies in
politics. “We are slipping at an alarming speed into a post-truth era,” says
Nadel. “We only have to look at what is happening in the United States.”
Fact-checkers at the
Washington Post found that Donald Trump made 30,573
false or misleading claims during his presidency, averaging about 21 a day.
“America is a warning of what can happen if this problem is allowed to go
unchecked,” Nadel believes. “[Our proposals] are designed to stop [the UK] from
getting to that stage.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
