This week we're looking at misleading campaign literature, the Conservative's economic pledge, doctored images of Keir Starmer and by-election history

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Voters in at least five different constituencies have received a leaflet from the Conservative party including an image of a Mail headline apparently stating that Labour will hand families a “£2,200 tax bombshell”.
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Give £10 today to support Full Fact’s work to stop deceptive campaign tactics like this ahead of a general election.

This is misleading because it suggests the Mail was reporting the £2,200 figure as fact, rather than a claim from one political party. The image in the leaflet omits the key words “Tories say”, which appeared at the end of the original headline, paraphrasing Conservative party chair Richard Holden MP.
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In January we told you about a similar tactic used by the Liberal Democrats who attributed a supportive quote about the party’s electoral prospects to the Guardian—even though the quote was actually the headline of an opinion piece written by the Liberal Democrats’ own leader Sir Ed Davey.
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As you can see, the Liberal Democrat leaflet does not attribute the quote to Mr Davey, make it clear that it was a headline to his opinion piece or give any other indication of its origin beyond the Guardian logo.

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All of this was only possible because Full Fact supporters sent us examples of election leaflets from their area. Please keep sending us recent examples at [email protected].
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Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
FACT CHECKS


** Government’s pledge to grow the economy appears to be unfulfilled for now ([link removed])
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With new figures showing the UK economy has met the popular definition of a recession, Full Fact took a look to see if the government were on track to meet their pledge of ‘growing the economy’ set in January last year.

Regardless of how you interpret Mr Sunak’s pledge, the latest figures show that the UK economy was effectively stagnant in 2023. GDP grew overall by 0.1% in 2023 compared to 2022, with only one quarter seeing positive growth (of 0.2%).

Excluding 2020, which was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, this represents the weakest annual growth for the UK economy since the 2009 financial crisis. GDP per capita, a rough guide for understanding the wealth of individuals within an economy decreased by 0.7% in 2023 compared to 2022, with negative growth in all four quarters.


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** Image of Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer altered to include Jimmy Savile ([link removed])
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An image falsely claiming to show the Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer seated beside serial sexual abuser Jimmy Savile has been circulating widely on social media. The image shared on Facebook includes text saying: “Sir Kier Starmer wants this photo permanently removed from the internet. Let’s keep it moving…[sic].”

However, the picture has been edited to include Savile’s face in the photo replacing the face of former Labour leader Gordon Brown. The original was posted by shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP in December 2022 and shows a group of people—including Ms Reeves, fellow Labour MP Lisa Nandy and the Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin watching a football match in Leeds.


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** How does the Wellingborough by-election result compare to other by-election swings? ([link removed])
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Following Labour’s by-election victories in Wellingborough and Kingswood, we’ve seen a number of people stating that the result saw the second biggest by-election vote swing since World War Two.

These claims relate specifically to by-elections won by Labour. It is true that Wellingborough saw the second largest post-war by-election swing in favour of the Labour party, and one of the largest by-election swings seen overall in the post-war period, but a number of other by-elections in that period have seen higher swings to other parties.


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CAMPAIGNS UPDATE


** Over 15,000 sign Full Fact petition calling time on deceptive campaign tactics ([link removed])
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Click the image to join over 15,000 people who have signed Full Fact's petition calling for an end to deceptive campaign tactics that could mislead voters.
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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* The SNP is not the only political party that wants to rejoin the EU ([link removed])
* US general not killed in ‘Israeli-American operation’ in Gaza ([link removed])
* Video does not show Chinese government destroying mosque ([link removed])

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