I was pleased to speak at the Report Stage of the Labour Government’s Representation of the People Bill in Parliament. The contains vital measures to protect our democracy from foreign interference, tackle voter and candidate intimidation, and to give the vote to 16 and 17 year olds.
£200 million has already been spent in the UK on sowing division and undermining democracy. In particular, crypto assets are being used by bad-faith actors help to fund disinformation and deep fakes. We need to continue to strengthen our democracy against these dangers, with a full ban on crypto donations.
I spoke in support of amendments to the Bill which seek to tackle online harms and online hate in the context of elections. It infects our politics, undermines election results, and damages people’s mental health and we need to do more to prevent this. Watch the full speech below.