We held our second parliamentary event this week “preventing disinformation in UK elections”.
The panelists that took part in the event: Benedict Pringle (RPA), Baroness Royall, Justin Madders MP (Labour), Hannah Spencer MP (Green Party), Zöe Franklin MP (Liberal Democrats), Emily Darlington MP (Labour) alongside Reform Political Advertising’s co-founder Alex Tait.
We are moving from the digital into the AI era at the same time as the UK has become a more competitive, fragmented political system. In the UK’s new five party system outcomes are increasingly decided by small shifts in vote share. In that context, disinformation can be decisive.
That was the backdrop to our recent parliamentary event “Preventing Disinformation in UK Elections”, which felt both timely and urgent.
Chaired by Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, the discussion brought together a strong cross-party group including Hannah Spencer MP (Green Party), Justin Madders MP (Labour), Zöe Franklin MP (Liberal Democrats), Emily Darlington MP (Labour), Full Fact alongside Reform Political Advertising’s co-founder Alex Tait.
The room was at capacity, with a good turnout of MPs and peers as well as people from civil society, campaigners and the advertising industry.
What stood out was the level of agreement across the room. There was a shared recognition that disinformation is likely to become more pronounced as technology develops. The pace of change, particularly with AI, is making the problem harder to manage, while the regulatory framework has not kept up.
This was not a talking shop. As a result of the work leading up to the event, amendments are now being tabled to the Representation of the People Bill covering almost all of our key recommendations.
It is rare to have this kind of alignment between political attention, policy development and legislative opportunity. It is certainly a first for our campaign. With the Bill currently moving through Parliament and now in the Report stage there is a genuine chance to make meaningful changes that strengthen the integrity of UK elections.
If you’d like to read about the progress of our campaign and how you can help please consider donating via this link.
We’ll post a recording of the event next week.
Reform Political Advertising is not for profit, politically neutral and run by unpaid volunteers.
The room filling up before we started the event.
