Disinformation
The question
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to ensure (a) Rt hon. and hon. Members and (b) other elected representatives are held to account for (i) misleading the public and (ii) repeating inaccurate information.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
Honesty is one of the Seven Principles of Public Life, which form the ethical basis of officeholders' standards in public life. All officeholders, including MPs and other elected representatives, have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the public.
For MPs, the Seven Principles are enshrined in the Commons Code of Conduct. The House has mechanisms available to ensure MPs uphold these standards, and individual MPs are directly accountable to their constituents.
Regarding locally elected representatives, the Government launched a consultation seeking views on proposed measures to strengthen the standards framework for local authorities in England in December 2024. The Government's response will be issued in due course.
In addition, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, introduced on 16th September, contains an offence of misleading the public. This applies where a public authority or public official acts with the intention of misleading the public (or is reckless as to that possibility) and they know, or ought to know, that their act is seriously improper. The definition of ‘public official’ for this purpose includes ministers.
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