Dear Friend,

Our campaign calling for politicians to refrain from using deceptive campaign tactics like political leaflets made to look like local newspapers has seen almost 15,000 people sign our petition.

With local elections in May and a general election this year political parties are beginning to ramp up their campaigning activity in your local area. Full Fact are interested to see what political parties are putting out where you are.

If you receive any political leaflets, newspapers or flyers especially ones that don't look right please take a picture of them and send them to us at [email protected]. 

Thank you to Full Fact supporters who've recently sent us examples of leaflets from their area. Only with your help can we work towards having a more truthful and honest politics. 
Best wishes, 

Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
FACT CHECKS

Think tank did not estimate that the average person is ‘over £10,000 a year’ worse off since 2010


During Prime Minister’s Questions on 7 February, Labour MP Janet Daby repeated a claim made by the party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner MP in Parliament in January—that a think tank had found that “on average, people are over £10,000 a year worse off” after 14 years of Conservative government.

This isn’t correct, the Centre for Cities said that if the economy had continued to grow at the same pace between 2010 and 2022 as it had done between 1998 and 2010 then the average person would have accrued £10,200 overall in additional disposable income.

 

Underlying debt is forecast to be higher in five years’ time than it is currently


In an interview on 8 February between chief secretary to the Treasury Laura Trott MP and Radio 4’s PM presenter Evan Davis, Ms Trott appeared to claim Mr Davis was wrong to say debt is forecast to be higher in five years’ time than it is currently.

It's possible that some confusion may have arisen from the fact that Ms Trott was initially referring to the government's fiscal rules, while Mr Davis seems to have been referring to whether debt would be higher at the end of the forecast period than it is currently.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that underlying debt will be 92.8% of GDP in 2028/29, compared to 89% in 2023/24. The figures do show that underlying debt is forecast to begin falling at the end of the period.
 
 

Welfare payments to immigrants don’t cost £500 billion a year


A post circulating widely on social media says that “Since 1997 over 12 million immigrants have entered Britain. 80% remain firmly dependent on Welfare. Total cost is £50k per person pa [per annum]. This is a staggering amount of money. Close to £500 billion. It’s destroying our National economy.”

While the post slightly understates the scale of inward migration since 1997 we can find no evidence that 80% of migrants who arrived during that period are ‘dependent on welfare’. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has also confirmed to Full Fact that these posts have no factual basis.

 
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