Full Fact gives evidence to MPs on the Representation of the People Bill

Last week, Full Fact’s CEO Chris Morris gave oral evidence to a committee of MPs scrutinising the Representation of the People Bill. This gave us a rare chance to speak directly to MPs: to discuss our proposals and hear where MPs think the bill could go further to address electoral misinformation.

The bill falls short of its own ambitions

As Chris told the Committee, the bill "falls significantly short of its original aims, which included restoring trust and strengthening the integrity of our democracy." While it does go some way towards strengthening the Electoral Commission’s enforcement powers and extending the digital imprint regime, this is not enough. The information environment in which elections are held is central to whether voters feel the system can be trusted. As introduced, the Bill does not do enough to strengthen and protect this system.

Chris also made the case for flexible measures, urging the committee to think not just of upcoming elections but of technical capabilities in 2029. Technology is “in a different league”, even since the last general election. As our colleague Azzurra Moores from Demos, giving evidence in the same session, put it, “a lot of the things we are asking for were not in scope when the Bill was being drafted”. It would have been hard for officials to predict what AI could do when the bill was in its early drafting stages several years ago.

Committee reactions to Full Fact’s proposals

Full Fact had already submitted written evidence, indicating our views about where and how the Bill could be strengthened.

Several of these were raised by MPs, allowing Demos and Full Fact to speak about amendments we have helped MPs to table, which seek to:

• Oblige the government to issue guidance on the law relating to digital communication offences in relation to elections
• Set up a repository of digital political advertising
• Impose a statutory obligation for online platforms to promote media and political literacy
• Introduce a critical election incident protocol, modelling what happens in Canada

Democracy under threat

In his closing remarks, Chris made the case for transparency as the guiding principle for addressing misinformation and related risks in this Bill:

This is not always a case of democracy dying in darkness; this is about democracy under threat in the bright blue backlit light of a million scrolling phones.[...] That is the scale of the challenge we are facing now. It is not just about making sure we have an electoral framework that is fit for purpose; it is about making sure that there is a public perception that it is fit for purpose.

Read the transcript of the committee session (from 4.55pm) and our policy paper for more information.