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This week’s news has been dominated by the announcement that the government has asked the Queen to “prorogue” or “suspend” parliament in September, which the Queen accepted on Wednesday afternoon.
We explain what progroguing means, why some have argued that it’s controversial, and how it could affect what happens in terms of Brexit.
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FACT CHECK
The pro-Brexit website World for Brexit has claimed that the EU puts a 30% tariff on cocoa coming from Africa.
This is incorrect. The vast majority of African countries can export cocoa to the EU tariff-free due to various schemes they’re part of. For those countries that are subject to tariffs, the maximum tariff on processed cocoa is 9.6%. We have asked World for Brexit to correct the text.
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FACT CHECK
Speaking to ITV News last weekend, Boris Johnson stated that if we leave the EU with no deal, then “strictly speaking” we wouldn’t have to pay the EU a sum of £39 billion.
It’s not clearly set out that the UK would be obliged to pay anything if we left with no deal, but the EU could take the case to the International Court of Justice on the grounds of the UK’s repeated commitments to pay.
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FACT CHECK
Two Facebook posts, which have been shared over 8,000 times between them, favourably compare the cost of EU membership with a number of other costs associated with Brexit.
The graphic pretty much correctly reports the cost of EU membership, but most of the calculations about the costs of Brexit are wrong or misleading.
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SUPPORT FULL FACT
On Tuesday, Parliament will return from summer recess. As this week has made clear, there will be much to debate as the UK prepares to exit the EU on 31 October.
That means the next two months will be full of claims about the EU, a possible exit deal, the likely impact of no deal, and arcane Parliamentary procedures. We could even see a snap general election.
Our team is working hard to get to the bottom of misleading claims and call out those who make them. Whichever party you support, however you feel about Brexit, we hope you agree that facts matter.
Full Fact’s monthly supporters help us lead the fight against false and misleading information. Can you join them in helping us set the record straight on Brexit claims?
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FACT CHECK
Over the weekend the Huffington Post reported that new data shows that arrest rates at Notting Hill Carnival are similar to those at Glastonbury.
However, there are problems with the calculation which mean that it probably underestimates the crime rate at both events, for different reasons. As such we can’t be sure which event has the higher crime rate.
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FACT CHECK
In reference to migrants attempting to cross the Channel to get from France to the UK, Boris Johnson said last Friday: “If you come illegally, you are an illegal migrant, and I’m afraid the law will treat you as such.”
This is not correct in all cases. Refugees seeking asylum in the UK can’t be penalised for entering illegally if they are claiming asylum and coming from a place where their life or freedom are threatened. They may also stop over in other “safe” countries en route to the UK.
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FACT CHECK
A Facebook post shared hundreds of times claims the number of patients waiting over four hours for a bed in A&E increased from around 84,000 in 2010 to 642,000 in 2018.
These figures are broadly correct looking at the number of patients in England waiting over four hours between a decision being taken to admit them to hospital for an emergency and them actually being admitted.
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FACT CHECK
A Facebook post shared over 3,000 times claims that Poland has refused to allow Mosques to be built until they can build a Christian Church in Saudi Arabia.
This is incorrect. The Polish embassy in London told us that it is not government policy and there are mosques in Poland.
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FACT CHECK
An image claiming to show a jaguar that threw itself into the water to escape the Amazon fires being rescued by a soldier has been shared over 17,000 times on Facebook and Twitter.
The picture does show a Brazilian soldier with a jaguar, but it was taken in 2016 and almost certainly doesn’t show a rescue mission. The image most likely shows the jaguar playing in the water with a soldier.
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BLOG
Today we say a fond farewell to our longest standing and outstanding volunteer, Sinéad, who is going on to work at Ofcom. Sinéad has been part of our fact checking team and organised the first ever fact checkers’ wikipedia edit-a-thon in the run up to the EU referendum. She has recently been doing ground-breaking work on how we can get a better overview of our fact checks, assess the balance of our work, and make it easier for users to understand.
Sinéad has written a blog reflecting on her experiences over the past five years. We want to thank her for all her dedication and wish her all the best for the future.
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Thank you very much for your support.
Have a great weekend from everyone at Full Fact.
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