ALISTAIR Carmichael has been accused of hypocrisy after he asked the Government to create an Office of Electoral Integrity to punish politicians who lie.

The MP for Orkney and Shetland has co-sponsored an early day motion in the House of Commons urging the Government to set up a body to “verify the truthfulness of claims made during political campaigns, with powers to issue clarifications and fines where appropriate”.

This, the motion goes on to say, “will help to ensure that future elections and referenda are contested on the basis of accurate and verifiable facts, strengthen accountability in political campaigning in the UK and restore faith in the democratic process”.

Though this motion is seemingly in response to the EU referendum campaign, Carmichael was the subject of an exceptionally rare Scottish sitting of an Election Court in Edinburgh.

Under Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, four of his constituents raised the action over his decision to leak and then lie about a memo that claimed Nicola Sturgeon wanted the Tories to remain in power after May’s General Election.

The court said Carmichael had told a “blatant lie” during an interview with Channel 4 News when he said he had not come across the memo until after it was leaked by his special adviser and a journalist contacted him about it.

Carmichael was in fact aware of the memo and had authorised his adviser to leak it to the press.

By the end of the trial, the former Secretary of State for Scotland was left with a legal bill of £150,000.

Tim Morrison, a member of the Orkney Four, was gobsmacked when The National told him about the motion, but later admitted that if any MP was knowledgeable on this subject then it would have to be Carmichael.

“Political integrity should maybe start closer to home,” Morrison said. “Perhaps Mr Carmichael should set an excellent example by taking responsibility for his own political lies”

SNP MP Pete Wishart said: “I am delighted that Alistair Carmichael has chosen to turn over a new leaf by committing to truthful politics, it’s just a pity he wasn’t able to make this commitment when he was asking the people of Orkney and Shetland to put their trust in him at last year’s General Election.

“Instead he was found to have repeatedly lied about his role in the leaking of a bogus memo about a conversation Nicola Sturgeon had with the French Ambassador and then was found not guilty by the election court due to a technicality.

“Actions speak louder than words and now Alistair Carmichael should prove to his constituents that he is truly committed to open and honest politics.”

The early day motion, by LibDem parliamentary colleague Norman Lamb, was tabled in the aftermath of the EU referendum campaign, where the Leave campaign’s factually incorrect promise to spend £350 million in the event of a Brexit vote was much criticised in the run up to the campaign, yet played a prominent part in their argument right up until polling day.

On Monday night, when asked if the £350m claim was a mistake, Scottish director of Vote Leave Tom Harris said, “yeah, probably”, despite having stood up for the claim just days before the June 23 vote.