ICDR Sets Out Blueprint for Senedd Political Honesty Law

The Institute for Constitutional and Democratic Research has set out a model for the Welsh Government’s proposed law to penalise politicians who deliberately mislead the public. The ICDR’s white Paper, “A Model for Political Honesty”, uses the structures in place in existing regulatory regimes, such as anti-social behaviour and planning, to create a new model law which will both penalise dishonest politicians and protect freedom of expression. 

The Welsh Government has publicly undertaken to introduce a new law whereby:

Politicians or candidates who are found guilty of deliberate deception by an independent judicial process will be disqualified from office. 

The ICDR has convened a working group, comprising leading experts across politics, public policy, academia, and law to develop a model regulatory regime. 

The new regime must conform to four key principles. It must:

1. Represent a decisive break with the failed models currently in place;

2. Be independent and non-political;

3. Provide swift resolutions;

4. Differentiate between false and accurate statements and preserve freedom of speech. 

The ICDR Model proposes:

1. Where a court finds that a politician has made a false or misleading statement of fact, it can issue a “Correction Notice” requiring the politician to issue a public correction. 

2. If the politician refuses to comply with the notice within seven days (without reasonable excuse) the court can impose a Disqualification Order which prevents that politician holding office in the Senedd for a specified period of time. 

The regime will be similarly effective whether it takes effect in criminal or civil law (although the criminal law is more practicable and makes a stronger statement). 

The ICDR is known for its work in Westminster as the secretariat for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and the Constitution during the 2019 to 2024 parliament. It supported parliamentary inquiries into the policing of the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard, judicial independence, and voter ID laws. 

Sam Fowles, Director of the ICDR, said:

“The Senedd rules already require politicians to tell the truth as do the internal rules governing the Westminster and Scottish parliaments and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The problem is that these rules are not properly enforceable. The crisis of trust in politics has occurred because there is currently no genuine incentive for politicians to tell the truth. The ICDR Model will reverse that by requiring politicians to correct the record when they mislead us. It will mean that we, as voters, are better informed and can properly hold power to account and thereby make Wales one of the most advanced democracies in the world.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS

The ICDR aims to improve our constitutional discourse through public education and thought leadership. It will open the legal and academic bubble, bringing the best constitutional minds in the country to legislators, government, and the public at large. The Institute’s mission is to: 

1. Advise – Provide legislators and officials at all levels of government with non-partisan, concise, accessible, and strategic advice on constitutional issues including by acting as secretariat to the APPG on Democracy and the Constitution. 

1. Empower – Empower citizens to engage in constitutional discourse through public education and providing educational resources for schools.

1. Lead – Provide thought leadership on constitutional and democratic issues by offering a platform for the nation’s leading constitutional minds to engage with the public and media on our most pressing challenges. 

The ICDR is entirely non-partisan. The institute works with legislators through the newly formed All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and the Constitution. It engages with select committee and public inquiries as well as officials in Westminster, the devolved legislatures and executives, and local government. The content is provided by a panel of fellows drawn from the leading constitutional experts at the bar, in academia, on the roll, and in other areas of practice. Their work is communicated though engagement with the media, events, conferences, blogs, longer form research, briefings, videos, and educational materials.