LAUGHTER could be heard from the Tory benches as Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville-Roberts called for an “honest" General Election campaign.
Speaking at PMQs, the MP said her party had signed Full Fact’s pledge as she called for “deceptive campaigning tactics” to be stopped.
This was met with groans and laughter from the Tory benches before Saville-Roberts continued: “There is evidence of egregious, misleading campaigning in Wales and elsewhere by the Conservatives in recent weeks.
READ MORE: PMQs: SNP challenge UK Government over Gaza ceasefire vote
“We all have a responsibility to campaign honestly because the alternative is to be complicit in dismantling democracy.
“Therefore, will the Prime Minister sign Full Fact’s pledge for an honest election?”
Sunak replied to say he was pleased to be in Wales last week and added: “These are the facts on the ground.
“The Labour-run Welsh NHS is performing the worst in the United Kingdom. Small Welsh businesses including pubs and restaurants are facing a crippling rise in their business rates and indeed Welsh farmers are being decimated by the plans of the Welsh Labour government.
“Those are the facts in Wales and we’re going to continue to point them out at every opportunity.”
At the end of last year, Full Fact wrote to the leaders of UK political parties setting out how they can provide honest leadership ahead of the upcoming General Election.
So far, The Green Party, the Alliance Party and Plaid Cymru have agreed to commit to the standards.
This includes:
- Making sure that claims made by a party's leader, party and candidates are truthful
- Setting out the party's manifesto in ways that allow meaningful scrutiny of its pledges
- Ensuring the party's advertising is honest and truthful, and committing to having the party's political advertising independently regulated
- Not using deceptive campaigning tactics to gain votes, and commit to new rules for honest party campaigning practices
Elsewhere at PMQs, Stephen Flynn challenged Rishi Sunak on helping to deliver a ceasefire in Gaza, warning that "abstentionism is not leadership".
The SNP Westminster leader said the UK Government had abstained on three occasions at the UN when it could have backed a ceasefire vote.
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