General Discussion for politics in the UK.
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But what of those not elected or in public office? Farage for example. He stopped being a MEP and never has been elected or appointed since. But he is still out spouting lies.
Most one could do is go after them once in office if they lied whilst campaigning for election to that office. You could maybe go after them even if they don't win that election.
It probably needs to be done as a strict obligation to not say anything in office or when campaigning which is not verifiably true.
Would also need to be backed with hefty fines on parties if one of their candidates are proven to have lied, or if the party spread that lie.
Tbh any version would be very hard to get right, and if it isn't robust the likes of Farage will use it as yet another tool of discord & disruption as they attack democratic institutions and the rule of law.
I think politics and political falsehoods, aren't just by professional politicians. It's part of wider issue of misinformation spreaders.
Of course, but that's considerably harder to address via criminal law.
Going after people in office (& people running for office & political parties) for misleading the public is much easier, as you can impose a duty on them.
Sounds good philosophically, but I can't help but feel like it could turn into a dystopia.
Who will be in charge of defining what is to be considered true, and what should be known by the accused? Who will be able to challenge this truth giver?
How do you make the difference between false information out of ignorance and willfully misleading information?
Out of fear, will every politician, even honest ones, be forced to introduce their speech with some precautionary standard phrase like "This is fully based on assumptions and the truth of those statements cannot be guaranteed" like people say "I am not a lawyer", eventually putting every political intention on an equal level of uncertainty? (That's standard troll farm goal)
I believe this job currently belongs to journalism, although we know how imperfect that is, will a law and a Justice system do better?
Every court has standards and procedures for establishing legitimate admissible evidence and verifying it to the satisfaction of a jury. We already have plenty of law about lying under oath, perjury. What if you make a politicians’ oath of office include a duty to tell the truth when speaking in an official capacity, whether that’s in a speech, in the legislature, to a journalist or a constituent, under punishment of perjury.
They’ll find ways around it. There was a bit of a scandal here recently after it came to light that public servants were instructed to be as vague as possible when answering questions
baby steps… patch hole after hole. the alternative is do nothing, and that’s a pretty crap outcome
Never let the perfect become the enemy of the good.
I could become king of the world, you could grow a third leg, we could all burn in a fiery hellpit.
keir starmer looking at his ten pledges: 👀