All of the turbines at Whitelee Wind Farm were manufactured in Europe

4 Aug 2023 | Full Fact's weekly news
View in your browser ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Keir Starmer wrong to say turbines at UK’s largest onshore wind farm made in Indonesia
In an interview with Sir Tony Blair last month, Sir Keir Starmer referred anecdotally to a visit he’d made to Scotland’s Whitelee Wind Farm.

Mr Starmer was right to say that Whitelee, which is owned and operated by ScottishPower Renewables, is the UK’s largest onshore wind farm. However, he got some other details wrong.

For example, he claimed “there’s 350 wind turbines there”, when there are actually 215. Mr Starmer also claimed he had been told all of its wind turbines were built in Indonesia, which is incorrect.

ScottishPower told Full Fact: “Whitelee is the UK’s largest onshore wind farm. Its 215 turbines, manufactured in Europe, generate up to 539 MW of electricity – enough to power over 350,000 homes.”

The company said Keir Starmer visited Whitelee in 2021 and discussed the need for a UK industrial strategy with ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson.

Find out more ([link removed])
FACT CHECK


** Most international students enrolling in UK universities have to prove they’re proficient in English ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
On the BBC’s Politics Live show on 3 July, Reform UK politician Alex Phillips claimed that international students can study at universities in the UK without passing a test to show they are proficient in the English language.

This claim is misleading, as virtually all international students will either have to pass an English language test or otherwise demonstrate their proficiency before being allowed to enrol on a course.

A functioning democracy depends on good information. Claims made by politicians are used to inform public debate.

When politicians don’t correct misleading claims, the public’s trust is undermined and bad information can spread further, with consequences that affect all of us.

What are the test requirements? ([link removed])
FACT CHECK


** Average annual income of UK plumbers is not between £150,000 and £1 million ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------
A video on Facebook falsely claims that the “average income” of a plumber is between £150,000 and £1 million per year. But the available evidence suggests that this is not true.

The claim appears in a Facebook video about jobs that ”pay you” over £100,000 per year without a degree. The video has over 1,500 likes.

One claim made about plumbers in the video is that: “their average income is between £150,000 and £1 million per year.”

The government’s National Careers Service says the average income for a plumber in the UK starts at £15,000 and can go up to £40,000 with experience, which is considerably lower than the claim in the video. The government website says its salary data comes from the Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, industry bodies, live vacancies and public sector pay scales.

However, a spokesperson for the Department for Education told Full Fact that this data does not include the income of self-employed plumbers or take overtime rates into account. But while the average income for a plumber, when including self-employed plumbers, is likely to be higher than the National Careers Service figures, there’s no evidence to support the claim it is between £150,000 and £1 million a year.

How much do self employed plumbers earn? ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Picture of Rishi Sunak’s bad pint has been Photoshopped ([link removed])
* Paying TV licence fee isn’t based on ‘consent’ ([link removed])
* Drinking borax carries risk of toxicity ([link removed])
* Video does not show police officer ‘explaining using wrong pronouns is a criminal offence’ ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
Stop the spread of bad information

Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed] https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fnews%2Fstarmer-wind-farm%2F Tweet ([link removed] https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fnews%2Fstarmer-wind-farm%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
All the best,
Team Full Fact

============================================================
** Follow us ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
** Like us ([link removed])
** Follow us ([link removed])
Have any questions or feedback? Please ** get in touch via our contact form ([link removed])
. We do not respond to direct replies to this email address.

Find out ** how Full Fact is funded ([link removed])
.

Copyright © Full Fact 2023 - All rights reserved

A registered charity (no. 1158683) and a non-profit company (no. 6975984) limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales.

Our mailing address is:
17 Oval Way, London, SE11 5RR

We use Mailchimp to send you our emails and to see which articles are most popular. ** Read our privacy policy ([link removed])
or ** Mailchimp's privacy policy ([link removed])

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])