Should politicians face criminal charges for deliberately lying to the public on matters of significant public concern?
The Public Office (Accountability) Bill, known as the Hillsborough Law, received approval in the House of Commons in July 2026 and is under scrutiny in the Lords. It introduces a duty of candour and criminalises serious deception by public officials and senior ministers. Amendments by Labour MP Luke Myer sought to extend this to deliberately misleading the public on significant matters, though government positions have varied on scope and free speech concerns.
5 Opinions
I mean, by "lying about matter of significant public concern", what exactly do we mean here? Arresting every politician responsible for breaking manifesto promises after the election? We'd be left with an empty House of Commons and the remaining MPs speaking in meaningless bureaucratic riddles.
I've voted no but in an ideal world it would be yes. In our world, the "machine" would use this law to go after the opposition and dissenting voices - who gets to decide what was misleading or what is "true"? We've all seen how easily a minister, prime or otherwise, can squirm their way out of a situation and in recent months we've seen disgraced MPs welcomed back, all forgiven.
As a particular group of some 600 MPs and however many lords, councillors and royals, they should be held to the highest accountability given the trust we've endowed in them for the upkeep of our institutions. I would go so far as to extend it to judges as well.
No, they should not be elected ever again. But liarvote liars.
If we are being held accountable for X posts, they should be equally accountable on the record. QED.