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On Tuesday, Boris Johnson claimed that a Brexit extension would cost £1 billion a month. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab then repeated the claim when standing in for Mr Johnson at this week’s Prime Minister’s Questions.
This is not true, and politicians need to stop saying it.
An extension of a few months - which the Prime Minister must request if parliament hasn't approved exit terms by 19 October - would cost no more than leaving with a deal in October 2019, which is still the government’s publicly stated policy. The deal stipulates that EU budget contributions have to be made until December 2020, regardless of the leaving date. (We fact checked this a month ago).
Even if we leave with no deal, we may have to make those payments in the future if we want to do any trading with the EU.
On Tuesday, our Chief Executive Will Moy said: “A Prime Minister’s words matter. When Mr Johnson repeats this claim, journalists should ask him if that means he’s not serious about getting a deal.”
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Can you help us call out politicians for spreading untrue information?
Our politicians owe it to all of us to get their facts right and back up what they say with evidence. This shouldn’t be up for discussion. Yet our public figures are continuing to spread claims which aren't true.
We all deserve better than that. We need your help to call it out.
Monthly supporters mean that we have the resources to fact check harmful information and push for corrections amid a fast-paced news cycle. With a potential election coming up and the current Brexit date just 27 days away, the stakes are high.
Can you help us keep scrutinising untrue information, and calling out the politicians who spread it?
Yes, I’ll become a monthly supporter
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FACTCHECK
Over the weekend, the government announced plans to build 40 new hospitals around the country.
As a number of news outlets correctly reported, the government in this announcement has only allocated funding for six hospitals to receive building work by 2025. Up to 38 other hospitals will receive money to develop plans for upgrades between 2025 and 2030, but not to undertake any building work.
If governments want to issue major policy announcements with large headline figures, they should provide details of where the funding is coming from, or which institutions will receive it and when.
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FACTCHECK
A viral tweet by the broadcaster Terry Christian claims the EU is bringing in a law in 2020 forcing owners of offshore accounts to “come clean” and that this is "what Brexit is about".
It’s unclear exactly which law Mr Christian is referring to. However, we can’t find any interpretation of this claim that would make it correct.
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FACTCHECK
A video showing Boris Johnson being booed by protesters has been attributed to the Conservative Party Conference which ran in Manchester this week.
The footage is real, however it is from the 2015 conference and not the 2019 conference.
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FACTCHECK
We've been asked to check numerous Facebook posts claiming 10 of the UK’s Supreme Court judges voted to remain, and only Lord Wilson voted to leave, in the EU referendum.
We cannot know this, since it was a secret ballot. Judges are required to stay impartial when it comes to political matters, so anybody claiming that they know how the justices voted needs to provide evidence of how they know this. We’ve seen no evidence that would support this claim.
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FACTCHECK
During last week’s Labour conference, Jeremy Corbyn said that top CEOs earn in two and a half days what a full-time worker does in a year.
That's broadly correct, if looking at FTSE 100 CEOs.
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FACTCHECK
A viral video from 2017 contains LBC radio presenter Andrew Pierce claiming that, without “a word of exaggeration or distortion”—senior EU employees lose their pension if they criticise the EU.
This is exaggerated and distorted. It’s true that there are rules on the conduct of current and former EU staff members, which in some cases can lead to pensions sanctions. But the extent of those rules is overstated by Mr Pierce, and there have been multiple cases of both current and ex-commissioners criticising the EU.
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FACTCHECK
A viral graphic which has been shared across Facebook and appears across the internet, claims that everyone with cancer has a body pH that is too acidic.
The claim resembles ideas promoted by the alkaline diet, which states that you can change the pH of your body based on what you eat, and that having too acidic a body can cause problems, including cancer.
This is unfounded, and changes in the body’s pH are not affected by diet.
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Thanks and have a great weekend from the team at Full Fact.
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