Politician lies are protected by 'free speech'

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I was listening yesterday to NPR and heard this beautiful pearl:

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down a 1999 law that banned political candidates from lying about their opponents. In the decision, the majority said the law was an affront to free speech.

WTF!?!?!?!?! What's next, strike down habeas corpus and torture people? Wait, those already happened...

[ivor]

How do you tell when politicians are lying?  Their lips are moving. 

[beagle]

There's something similar in English law.  I don't think anyone can take action against an MP for slander as long as they say it inside Parliament (though they may be disciplined by the Speaker under a breach of Privilege) .

"The most important privilege is that of freedom of speech. As MPs cannot be prosecuted for sedition or sued for libel or slander over anything said during proceedings in the House. This enables them to raise in the House questions affecting the public good which might be difficult to raise outside owing to the possibility of being sued. "
{UK Parliament - Standards http://www.parliament.uk/works/standards.cfm }

What happens in practice is that they are challenged to repeat it outside the House. It's very embarassing for them to decline as it amounts to them admitting they have no evidence.

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

I'm not sure if English law is the same as Canadian in this regard, but I believe it's a serious breach of our rules of parliament to accuse another member of lying, even if the accusation is true.  This sometimes results in creative wording to get around the rule as MPs accuse other MPs of being "innacurate with the facts", "deliberately unforthcoming" and the like as they try to dance around the rules but still get a sound bite they want for the evening news.

[beagle]

I think it's the same. It's not technically illegal though.  One MP can say it about another, but might get thrown out of the session for some time period by the Speaker.