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In the newsletter this week...
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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...
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
FACT CHECKS

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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?
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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Sign telling people not to walk their dogs in an ‘Islamic area’ is not recent
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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