Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn's flawed climate change claims

FACT CHECK

Jeremy Corbyn's quote about the Prime Minister's convictions: needs context

Mr Corbyn made suggestions this week about the Prime Minister's own convictions, claiming that Mr Johnson had said climate change was a “primitive fear without foundation.”

This needs context. Mr Corbyn had pulled the quote from a 2015 column in the Daily Telegraph, in which Mr Johnson was talking specifically about the weather in December 2015, saying:

“It is fantastic news that the world has agreed to cut pollution and help people save money, but I am sure that those global leaders were driven by a primitive fear that the present ambient warm weather is somehow caused by humanity; and that fear – as far as I understand the science – is equally without foundation.”

It’s not clear those specific comments apply to his general views on climate change, but Mr Johnson has previously expressed views sceptical of the scale of the human impact on the climate.

FACT CHECK

Boris Johnson’s economy claim: wrong

Mr Johnson rebutted Mr Corbyn in last week's debate with statements about his own party’s record on climate change. He claimed that UK carbon dioxide emissions have fallen 42% since 1990, and that the economy has grown by 73% under this Conservative government. 

The first claim is broadly correct. The second is wrong. 

The economy has grown by roughly 73% since 1990. That's under both Conservative and Labour governments, not just this current government. Since the Conservatives entered government in 2010, it has grown by around 20%.

FACT CHECK

It’s wrong to say that only 15% of people ever move above low pay

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said that only 15% of people in the UK who start work at entry level rise above that level during their working life.
He claimed this was the worst figure in the developed world. Both claims are incorrect.

Sir Iain was referring to EU data which shows 15% of continuously employed UK workers moved from any level of occupation skill to a higher one within a four-year period, not (as it was claimed) over their entire working lives.The same data shows 35-40% of people rising out of low pay in the UK over a four-year period.

The UK’s rate of pay progression is low compared with other EU countries, but not the lowest.

FACT CHECK

Also this week...

• The government sets the licence fee, not the BBC
• Since 2010 the UK has granted protection to around 41,000 asylum seekers under the age of 18
• The Royal College of nursing hasn’t told nurses to call women by gender-neutral terms
• UK death rates have stayed the same since 2011
• We're hiring an Operations Manager and an HR Adviser/People Manager