Politicians (of any side) should not be able to knowingly mislead the public when standing for election or campaigning ahead of a referendum. It's just not ok. We have had enough of it being ok to lie to the public for electoral gain. We demand that it becomes a criminal offence, punishable by imprisonment to knowingly mislead the public to win an election or referendum. We see examples of people withdrawing election promises almost as soon as the polls close. This is not ok. We have to vote based on what people say, so we require it to be true. An example is during the European Union referendum whereby a mainstay of the 'leave' campaign was that £350million extra per week would be spent on the NHS if we vote to leave. This figure was widely discredited prior to the referendum but continued to be used. The day following the referendum and a senior politician (nigel farage) is already saying it was 'a mistake'. This is not good enough. It was a mainstay of the 'leave' campaign, the country made decisions based on this which affect us all, and the leave campaign knew it to either be totally wrong, or at the very least to be being used in a misleading way. It's not good enough. We deserve better. From all of our politicians and public officials. The solution is clear. Make it a criminal offence to knowingly mislead the public for electoral gain.