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Dear Friend,

In the newsletter this week...
* Is the government spending £31 billion a year extra on the state pension?
* Does the UK consume 117 million tonnes of cocaine each year?
* Sign telling people not to walk their dogs in an ‘Islamic area’ is not recent
* Government tracker

But first...

The 1979 XTC song Making Plans for Nigel tells the story of a young man whose parents see a future for him working in the then-nationalised British Steel.

Today, the future of British virgin steelmaking looks uncertain. Over the weekend, Parliament granted the government emergency powers to keep the last two remaining blast furnaces at the Scunthorpe site functioning.

The government hasn’t nationalised the plant yet, but business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said this is “the likely option”.

If intervention proves successful, that will mean that, at least for now, virgin steelmaking still has a future in Britain.

A race against the clock

Blast furnaces can’t be turned off and turned back on again without significant risk—hence the race against the clock to secure the materials needed to keep them running.

Find out more... ([link removed])
Blast furnaces are designed to operate continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a number of years, which means a steady supply of raw materials must always be on hand.

We’ll keep an eye out for any claims relating to this story but if you spot anything please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will take a look.
Best wishes,

Craig, Audience Engagement Manager—Full Fact


** Is the government spending £31 billion a year extra on the state pension? ([link removed])
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In a recent Instagram post, culture secretary Lisa Nandy claimed that Labour is “spending an extra £31 billion every year in this Parliament to protect the pension triple lock”. A similar claim has also been made by pensions minister Torsten Bell.

This is potentially misleading, as annual spending on the state pension is projected to increase by £31 billion by the end of this parliament. So the amount spent annually compared to 2024/25 is only forecast to rise by £31 billion over a five-year period.
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** Does the UK consume 117 million tonnes of cocaine each year? ([link removed])
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A Full Fact reader has pointed out that a newsreader on BBC Radio 2 claimed that, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Britain consumes “117 million tonnes of cocaine each year”. A similar claim was also made on BBC Radio 3 and 6 Music.

This is not correct—and not even close. A spokesperson for the NCA told Full Fact that it estimates that cocaine consumption in England, Scotland and Wales is about 117 tonnes per year.
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Support Full Fact

As a registered charity, Full Fact relies on the public to support our independent, impartial fact checking and advocacy work. Monthly donations help challenge harmful misinformation from politicians, in the media, and online.
Please support Full Fact with a monthly gift of £10

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** Sign telling people not to walk their dogs in an ‘Islamic area’ is not recent ([link removed])
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A number of Facebook posts have shared a photo of a sign telling people not to walk their dogs in an “islamic area” [sic].

The sign in question was seen in the London borough of Tower Hamlets in 2014. We’ve found no reports of the same or similar signs appearing recently, either in London or elsewhere in the UK.
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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 15th April
* Is the government on track to introduce a ‘Hillsborough Law’? ([link removed])
Monday 14th April
* Is the government on course to deliver 40,000 more NHS appointments per week? ([link removed])
Friday 11th April
* Has the government ended the use of offshore trusts to avoid inheritance tax? ([link removed])

Discover our Government tracker ([link removed])
* Likely AI deepfake supposedly of Keir Starmer saying he hates Liverpool circulating again ([link removed])
* Posts about a missing 12-year-old called ‘Shelly’ are hoaxes ([link removed])
* Photo of ‘US army general killed in Gaza’ is actually old image from Iraq ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
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All the best,
Team Full Fact


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