The UK has just reached the end of one of the most acrimonious political campaigns in recent times. This has been highlighted by "facts" being produced by both sides, and maintained even when independent bodies demonstrate that they are not true.

In the commercial world the Advertising Standards Agency has the power to ban or change misleading adverts. There is no such thing for political adverts, yet these shape our world much more strongly than a decision about which ice cream we buy.

Within hours of the UK EU referendum ending, Nigel Farage admitted on live TV that the statement that leaving the EU would free up £350m a week to spend on the NHS was not true. Yet this argument had been central to the Leave campaign for weeks.

We urge the Government to create an independent body like the ASA, with the remit and power to verify claims made in political campaign material and compel bodies to retract and correct statements which are demonstrably misleading.