Dear Friend,

Last week, Chris updated you on the progress of our campaign to tidy up how political parties participate in elections.

This week we’re proud to announce that another political party, the SDLP, has agreed to run their election campaign honestly and transparently, including committing to end deceptive campaign tactics. 


Over 12,000 supporters like you have already signed our petition calling for political parties to stop making their leaflets look like local newspapers.

You can increase the pressure on the remaining political parties to end deceptive campaign tactics by adding your name to our petition. 

I will sign the petition

As always if you have any recent examples of political leaflets made to look like newspapers or leaflets containing misleading claims please send them to [email protected].

Best wishes, 

Craig, Digital Campaigns ManagerFull Fact
FACT CHECKS

Grant Shapps wrong to say Labour has a majority in the House of Lords


In an interview on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg at the weekend, while discussing the Safety of Rwanda Bill, Grant Shapps said: “I appeal to Keir Starmer and Labour to stop frustrating and blocking Conservative efforts to stop these boats from coming.”  

When Ms Kuenssberg interjected that the passage of the Bill was now a matter for the House of Lords, Mr Shapps replied: “Well no it's not. This is what they keep saying but they control the House of Lords and they have a majority there.” 

This is not true. No political party has an overall majority in the House of Lords.
 
 

Petition calling for expulsion of Israeli ambassador wasn’t permanently removed after reaching 100,000 signatures


Posts on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) claim an online petition which calls for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to the UK has been removed. 

This is not the whole story.. The petition was deactivated by Change.org for a “few hours” on 8 January while the site checked it complied with its terms and conditions. It was then reinstated and open to new signatories.
 
 

Overall cost of pandemic support was around £370 billion


On Question Time on 11 January health minister Andrea Leadsom made two claims which aren’t quite right. The first related to the cost of pandemic support. Ms Leadsom overstated this, claiming the government had spent £450 billion to keep people in work and business afloat. However the Treasury estimated the total cost of all pandemic support to be around £370 billion. 

The second was a claim about the number of Sure Start centres, with Ms Leadsom claiming that there were over three and a half thousand currently open in England. The Department of Education currently lists 2,201 open children’s centres in England.

 

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Deadline: Monday 5th February, 10am

To grow and lead a high achieving fundraising programme that meets 2024 income targets in corporate, philanthropy and individual giving fundraising, maximises on opportunities presented by an election year and sets us up for future growth.

 
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