Ten years on from Brexit, a campaign defined in part by contested claims on the sides of buses, and the UK still has no rules requiring factual accuracy in political advertising. That is a scandal hiding in plain sight.
Right now, four separate sets of regulations ensure that an ad for a packet of crisps cannot mislead you. Yet the ads that decide who governs your country? Entirely unregulated in terms of factual accuracy. Misleading claims are not just permitted; they are entirely legal.
The Reform Political Advertising (RPA) campaign, a not-for-profit initiative run by unpaid volunteers from the advertising and marketing industry, and led by the industry veteran Alex Tait, has spent years trying to change this. And now there is a real legislative opportunity. Amendments covering nearly all of the RPA’s recommendations have been tabled for the Representation of the People Bill, including one that would implement the House of Lords’ 2020 cross-party recommendation to regulate fact-based claims in election ads.
Eleven MPs have already backed the amendment. More are needed.
The case is straightforward. Trust in politics is at historic lows. According to 2024 Opinium research, election advertising is the least trusted form of advertising across all sectors — less trusted than banks, retailers, and price comparison websites. The Advertising Standards Authority’s stated ambition is to make every UK ad responsible. Election advertising remains the glaring exception.
In an era of rampant disinformation, that exception is no longer defensible.
At New Digital Age, we cover the intersection of technology, media, and society. We understand better than most how digital channels amplify misleading content, and how quickly it spreads before corrections can catch up. Political advertising is precisely the domain where guardrails matter most and yet where they are most conspicuously absent.
We support this amendment. We urge our readers to contact their MPs and ask them to back it. It takes less than a minute at the link the RPA has provided. The more MPs hear from constituents, the harder this will be to ignore.
Democracy depends on informed voters. Informed voters depend on honest advertising. This is not a left-or-right issue; it is a basic question of democratic integrity.
The amendment has been tabled. The window is open. Use it. Contact your MP here: https://reformpoliticaladvertising.org/take-action/email-your-mp/
New Digital Age supports the Reform Political Advertising campaign’s calls for factual accuracy standards in UK election advertising.
