Dear Friend,

In the newsletter this week...

  1. Is the tax burden at a 70 year high?

  2. There were treatment waits longer than 18 weeks in 2010

  3. Is the government increasing defence spending by £75 billion?

  4. Full Fact secures measles correction from NHS England

  5. Ask Jonathan Gullis MP to stop repeating unreliable claims

  6. More fact checks
But first...

Last week you might have noticed the newsletter didn’t appear in your inbox. That’s because Full Fact launched our General Election 2024 Crowdfunder. 
In the last week, we’ve already raised over £20,000. A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far.
Best wishes, 

Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
FACT CHECKS

Is the tax burden at a 70 year high?
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves MP claimed that taxes under the Conservative government “are at a 70 year high” and are “due to go up in each of the next five years”.

It’s true that in 2022/23 the tax burden was at the highest level in over 70 years. It’s since fallen slightly but is forecast to increase over each of the next five years to a near-record level.
Read more

There were treatment waits longer than 18 weeks in 2010
A widely shared post online claims that 14 years ago there were no NHS England “waiting lists” longer than 18 weeks. The Labour MP Bill Esterson shared the post with his followers, and we have seen the same claim appear several times on Facebook.

This is not correct. A total of 214,983 cases were recorded to be waiting more than 18 weeks in March 2010.
Read more
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Is the government increasing defence spending by £75 billion?
Defence secretary Grant Shapps announced that 28 new Royal Navy ships and submarines are under construction or on order. He claimed: “All of this wouldn’t be possible without the additional £75 billion that this government has put into defence.”
 
This figure is misleading because it assumes spending would otherwise have been frozen in cash terms, and fallen as a percentage of GDP, over the next six years.
Read more

Full Fact secures measles correction from NHS England
We’re happy to say that NHS England has now published a detailed correction to its statement in January, which incorrectly claimed that “more than 3.4 million” children in England were “unprotected” against measles.

The corrected NHS England statement now says “up to 3.4 million children under the age of 16 years are either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated”, and includes detail on how that figure was reached.
Read more
ACTIONS

Ask Jonathan Gullis MP to stop repeating unreliable claims
Since last week almost 2,000 Full Fact supporters have written to Jonathan Gullis asking him not to repeat unreliable claims about Labour's immigration plan. 
 
If you haven't already write to Mr Gullis to ask that he stop repeating unreliable claims. 
Write to Mr Gullis
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
Read our latest fact checks
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Team Full Fact

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