Senedd committee warns against making lying in Welsh parliament a criminal offence
A Senedd committee has warned against making lying in the Welsh parliament a criminal offence.
It comes after the Welsh government committed to introduce legislation which would ban members of the Welsh parliament from deliberately deceiving.
But the Senedd 's standards committee, which the government asked to look into the matter, has concluded that members who lie on purpose should not be criminalised.
"We had some significant concerns about the risks outlined to the committee in the evidence it received of introducing a criminal offence," it said in its report.
The committee does, however, recommend broadening section 75 of the draft Senedd Cymru (Representation of the People) Order, which would make it an offence for election candidates to make any deliberately deceptive statements.
Former Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price put forward his party's motion in July last year, arguing that trust in politicians had "fallen to an all-time low".
But before it went to a vote, the Welsh government's then counsel general, Mick Antoniw, said the government was "committed to the principle" and said it would introduce legislation ahead of the next Senedd election in 2026.
Concerns had been raised by some members on the impact of such proposals on parliamentary privilege.
The report comes after the committee last month suggested introducing a mechanism to unseat members of the Senedd found to have breached its code of conduct.
In the report, published on Wednesday, the committee concludes it was "not convinced" that a new criminal offence would restore "trust in the system".
"Our view is that the risks and the unintended consequences currently outweigh the benefits," the committee added.
The committee said the perceived risks included the "considerable existing strain on the justice system", the right to freedom of expression under article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights and the "difficulties of proving that a statement is false".
Instead, the committee recommends the Welsh government strengthen the existing standards procedures for members of the Senedd.
This includes a clear definition of deliberate deception and changing the code of conduct to explicitly state that members "must not make deliberately misleading statements".
A Welsh government spokesperson said the committee had "produced a detailed and thorough report into deliberate deception as part of its inquiry into member accountability".
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