Closed petition Make it a criminal offence for candidates to knowingly lie in election campaigns

Closed on 6 November 2019

In recent election and referendum campaigns there have been several documented instances of candidates and political parties lying or spreading false information in order to win. Despite public complaints there is no formal action that can currently be taken to prevent such deception.

The well documented “£350 million per week” claims during the EU referendum campaign was accompanied by claims of mass waves of migration following Turkey’s imminent membership of the EU. These claims could have influenced many voters, yet neither was true.

At a local level claims were recently made that the merger of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils was the direct result of an EU directive. Despite the claim being untrue, nothing could be done to force its deletion from campaign literature.