Peterborough councillor calls for lying to be made illegal during election run-in
Councillor John Fox said efforts to clean up local politics were “long overdue.”
A Peterborough City Councillor has urged fellow councillors to follow the lead of Welsh politicians and make it illegal for councillor candidates to lie.
In an impassioned speech at last night’s Full Council meeting at Sand Martin House, Councillor John Fox said efforts to clean up local politics were “long overdue.”
“Most of us are fed up to the back teeth of the pathetic, petty, party political playground shenanigans that sometimes we see taking place each year in the build-up to elections, both locally and nationally,” he said.
“This totally unnecessary behaviour has to be curtailed, and sanctions need to be brought and supported fully by us all.”
Cllr Fox believed Peterborough should follow the examples set elsewhere in the UK where similar issues have been experienced:
“In Wales, their Parliament has recently passed a law to make it illegal for candidates to lie during their parliamentary elections,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Welsh Parliament (Senedd) passed legislation making it illegal for candidates to deliberately tell lies or make misleading statements of fact during Senedd election campaigns.
“I look forward to the day this becomes the law in England,” Cllr Fox observed.
The long-serving Werrington councillor said it wasn’t just him and his colleagues that were sorely frustrated with some councillors’ conduct:
“I know the public are fed up with this sort of behaviour that they see from certain individuals who definitely should know better but who just don’t seem to be bothered about their integrity, their principles or even their own self-respect.”
Summing up, Cllr Fox urged all those present to be mindful of their actions during the upcoming pre-election period:
“We should all act accordingly, with respect to one another and the people we all serve,” he said.