OFFICE OF ELECTORAL INTEGRITY

Early day motion 278, tabled 4 July 2016 by Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 50 members.

That this House welcomes the petition on the change.org website, entitled Restore truthful politics - create an independent office to monitor political campaigns; notes that this petition has gained more than 160,000 signatures since it was launched following the EU referendum; agrees that misleading claims put forward during the referendum campaign undermine the integrity of our democratic system; supports the call for the establishment of an independent Office of Electoral Integrity (OEI) to factually verify the truthfulness of claims made during political campaigns, with powers to issue clarifications and fines where appropriate; believes that this will help to ensure that future elections and referenda are contested on the basis of accurate and verifiable facts, strengthen accountability in political campaigning in the UK and restore faith in the democratic process; and urges the Government to consider the merits of creating an OEI and to provide a response to the petition as soon as possible.

Signatures by party: Labour 38, Liberal Democrat 5, Plaid Cymru 3, Labour/Co-operative 2, Green 1, Independent 1.