1. Background

1.1. Existing rules on truthfulness in the Senedd

Rule 2 of the Senedd Members’ Code of Conduct states that “Members must act truthfully”. The Guidance on the Code of Conduct sets out further information on what may be considered as a breach of Rule 2. It states:

A white lie (e.g. claiming to be ’fine’ when a Member is actually tired) or some other minor lack of truthfulness, would not be regarded as a breach of this Rule. Equally, while Members are expected to reasonably fact-check and verify their assertions, it is inevitable that sometimes ‘incorrect, but honestly made,’ statements will occur. For instance, a Member might inadvertently misquote a financial figure (“£60,000” rather than “£600,000”). Provided the Member has corrected the error at the earliest opportunity, complaints of such nature are likely to be considered frivolous or vexatious.

A complaint would normally be based upon an alleged lie. Amongst other things, the substantiveness of the consequences of a lie are likely to be a factor in the determination of sanction for such behaviour.

The Senedd is the only legislature in the UK that has a rule within its Code of Conduct which specifically requires members to ‘act truthfully’.

1.2. Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill

The Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill (now Act), was introduced to the Senedd in October 2023. It introduced a range of changes to the administration of elections in Wales. During Stage 2 an amendment was agreed to the Bill that would have changed the grounds upon which a Senedd Member could be disqualified.

Section 64 of the Bill would have amended Schedule 1A of the Government of Wales Act 2006 to add committing an the offence of deception as a grounds upon which a person could be disqualified from being a Senedd Member or from standing as a candidate in a Senedd election for a period of four years.

Section 64 of the Bill, as amended at Stage 2, stated that a person must not ‘wilfully’ and ‘with the intent to mislead’ make, publish or cause or permit to be published on their behalf a statement of fact which they know ‘to be false or deceptive’ and would have made doing so a criminal offence for which the sentence would be disqualification.

Some exceptions to this general rule were provided.

Following discussion between the Welsh Government and Senedd Members who were supportive of retaining the offence of ‘deliberate deception’ within the Bill, an agreement was reached to remove the section on deception from the Bill at Stage 3 (2 July 2024) in exchange for a commitment from the Welsh Government to legislate on this issue by 2026. Speaking during stage 3 proceedings of the Bill, the then Counsel General stated:

…the Welsh Government will bring forward legislation before 2026 for the disqualification of Members and candidates found guilty of deliberate deception through an independent judicial process and will invite the committee to make proposals to that effect.

2. Welsh Government action

In evidence to the Senedd’s Standards Committee, the Deputy First Minister, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, said the Welsh Government is committed to bring forward legislation on deception in the fifth year of its legislative programme. The Deputy First Minister has said that the Welsh Government will honour the commitment it made during Stage 3 of the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Bill.

The Deputy First Minister has said that Welsh Government officials are ‘working through the detailed issues’ associated with introducing legislation on this issue to ‘scope’ policy decisions that will be required. He has said that in order to be able to introduce the legislation by 2026 ‘it is essential that all parts of the process are able to proceed at pace.’

The Deputy First Minister has said that:

It is important that any system strikes the right balance between providing for an effective mode for member accountability, and not allowing the system to be used to prevent legitimate discourse.

In his response to this Committee on the Petition, the Deputy First Minister states, that the Welsh Government will be taking account of the work of the Senedd’s Standard’s Committee on this work.

3. Welsh Parliament action

On 13 March 2024, the Welsh Government’s then Counsel General, wrote to the Senedd Standard’s Committee Chair asking that the Committee give consideration to the issue of disqualification for the offence of deception as part of its broader inquiry into Individual Member Accountability. The Committee agreed to undertake this work and completed initial scoping work before launching a full consultation on Individual Member Accountability on 31 July 2024.

The Committee asked for views on three options in relation to deliberate deception:

§ Option 1: The creation of a new criminal offence on deliberate deception.

§ Option 2: The creation of a civil sanction on deliberate deception overseen by an existing investigative body and in independent Welsh Tribunal.

§ Option 3: Strengthening the existing requirements on truthfulness in the Senedd Members Code of Conduct and sanctions attached to a breach of the rule.

The Committee also held oral evidence sessions with stakeholders between September 2024 and December 2024.

The Committee is due to publish its final report with recommendations for the Welsh Government to consider in February.

Every effort is made to ensure that the information contained in this briefing is correct at the time of publication. Readers should be aware that these briefings are not necessarily updated or otherwise amended to reflect subsequent changes.