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Dear Friend,
In the newsletter this week...
* Has the OECD said the UK is on track to become the ‘fastest growing economy in Europe’?
* Was David Lammy right to claim 45,000 Russian troops died in November?
* Video of fire surrounding the Hollywood sign isn’t real
* Government tracker
But first...
Full Fact has examined three claims made at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) this week. Two examine Labour and the Conservatives' economic record in power, while the third looks at Labour’s pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.
Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, said that the Conservatives left “the fastest growing economy in the G7”. Similar claims last year from the Conservatives appeared to be based on combined GDP growth data for the first two quarters of 2024, which showed this to be the case. Following revisions though, the same data now suggests the UK and US were neck-and-neck over this period.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the government will “rebuild Britain by delivering 1.5 million new homes”. Full Fact has been monitoring this pledge as part of our Government Tracker project.
Find out more... ([link removed])
Finally, Mr Starmer twice claimed Labour inherited a “£22 billion black hole” from the Conservatives. This is a familiar and contested claim. We’ve produced a long-form explainer ([link removed]) to provide additional information about why Labour have made the claim, why the Conservatives reject it and what the experts are saying.
Best wishes,
Craig, Digital Campaigns Manager—Full Fact
** Has the OECD said the UK is on track to become the ‘fastest growing economy in Europe’? ([link removed])
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Culture secretary Lisa Nandy MP claimed that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) had said the UK was “on track to become the fastest growing economy in Europe”.
This claim doesn’t appear to be supported by the OECD’s latest projections.
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** Was David Lammy right to claim 45,000 Russian troops died in November? ([link removed])
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Foreign secretary David Lammy MP claimed that Russia had “lost 45,000 troops, dead, in November alone” in the war with Ukraine.
The 45,000 figure actually appears to refer to an estimate shared by the Ministry of Defence for the total number of Russian casualties in the war with Ukraine in November, including both those killed and those who were wounded. There is always considerable uncertainty over casualty figures from war zones, however.
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** Video of fire surrounding the Hollywood sign isn’t real ([link removed])
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A video has been shared on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) with claims that it shows fire surrounding the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
This didn’t happen, and the footage isn’t real. Using the TikTok handle in the video’s watermark, Full Fact traced the footage back to a now-deleted post from 9 January. The video was posted by a YouTube channel with a similar username on the same day, with the title “New fire ignites in Hollywood Hills”.
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** Government tracker ([link removed])
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Full Fact’s most recent updates to our tracker of government policy.
Tuesday 14th January
* Is the government on course to meet the NHS 18-week standard on waiting times? ([link removed])
Friday 10th January
* Are living standards improving in every part of the UK? ([link removed])
Thursday 9th January
* Has the government issued new licences to explore new oil and gas fields? ([link removed])
Discover our Government tracker ([link removed])
* Liberal Democrat spokesperson uses improved parliamentary corrections system to update claim about NHS waiting lists ([link removed])
* Recirculating figures don’t show current average energy prices across Europe ([link removed])
* Video of ‘UFO’ in Germany is CGI ([link removed])
Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
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All the best,
Team Full Fact
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