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Politicians have always lied, writes Alex Parsons, and claims we have entered an era of 'post-truth politics' are themselves misleading. Nonetheless, efforts to hold political advertising to account in Britain have failed because of the lack of party consensus on the issue. While commercial advertising can be banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, it has avoided ruling on political advertisements since the controversy surrounding the Tony Blair 'Demon Eyes' poster in the 1990s. But with growing disquiet over some of the claims made during the referendum campaign, the South Australia Electoral Commission offers a possible model for regulating political advertising.

Three devolved bodies in the UK (the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the London Assembly) use Multi Member Proportional Representation electoral systems. These bodies have two groups of representatives, regional and constituency, elected through different methods. Using a survey of members of the public who contacted their representative, constituency representatives are shown to have a higher response rate across all three bodies, and this effect is isolatable from the role of being a government party. In Scotland, this effect is demonstrable when comparing the behaviour of the same people holding different roles, suggesting that individuals adapt their behaviour to the expectations of the role.