18 October 2019 | Facts and news from Full Fact
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FULL FACT UPDATE: Thursday saw the publication of the withdrawal agreement between Boris Johnson's government and the EU. We'll be writing about this later today with the key things you need to know, so check in on fullfact.org ([link removed]) later.
** FACTCHECK
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** This post about nine years of a Conservative government gets a lot of things wrong
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A tweet by a Labour councillor which makes claims about what has happened after “9 years of a Tory Government” has been shared over 13,000 times.
Three of the claims are wrong, and the other five need more context. We look at them below. We have emailed the councillor, and so far not received a response.
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What's the real record? ([link removed])
** FACTCHECK
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** Problematic estimate of Labour’s nationalisation plans ([link removed])
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Earlier this week the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) released analysis estimating the cost of Labour’s nationalisation plans. It also said that on top of costing £196 billion, pensioners and savers would lose out.
This is misleading. The CBI’s own analysis says both outcomes could occur, but under different (and contradictory) scenarios.
Regardless, its method is disputed, and doesn’t factor in the potential economic benefits of nationalisation.
Misleading reporting ([link removed])
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But right now, our public figures and media are making claims which don’t have evidence to back them.
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** FACTCHECK
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** This is not a diesel generator at an Extinction Rebellion protest ([link removed])
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A photo of a diesel generator, claimed to be from the Extinction Rebellion “campsite in Hyde Park”, has been shared thousands of times on Twitter ([link removed]) .
However, the photo is not from any event linked with Extinction Rebellion. It is from the Caterpillar Inc. website.
False photo ([link removed])
** FACTCHECK
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** Voter ID scheme: far more turned away than convicted of electoral fraud ([link removed])
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The Queen's speech on Monday reiterated the government’s plans for a new voter ID scheme, which would require whoever wants to vote to prove who they are with photographic ID.
This led to criticism online, with claims that the number of people convicted of impersonating someone else at a polling station (which the voter ID scheme is meant to combat) is much smaller than the number who have been prevented from voting due to government-run pilot voter ID schemes.
These claims are broadly accurate. More than four times as many people were prevented from voting in May 2019 due to the voter ID pilot scheme, than have been accused of impersonating someone else at a polling station since 2010.
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Facts: identified ([link removed])
** BLOG
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** Election law reform must be a priority: Full Fact response to the Queen’s Speech ([link removed])
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Her Majesty’s speech also restated government plans to implement the imprint regime (where adverts must say who paid for them) for online as well as offline material, with technical proposals due “in the coming months”.
Reforms to laws on digital political campaigning are vital and long overdue. The Cabinet Office first promised such changes in May, but the government has yet to take action.
With a general election a high possibility, there remains a risk that such reforms will not be implemented in time to ensure that vote is properly protected.
We need action now ([link removed])
** FACTCHECK
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** EU Flags were not replaced by Union Jacks outside of parliament ([link removed])
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A viral post ([link removed]) claims that EU flags were removed and replaced by the Union Jack for the opening of Parliament.
This is inaccurate. There were no flags—EU or otherwise—in parliament square in the weeks before the Union Jacks were put up.
It doesn’t fly ([link removed])
** FACTCHECK
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** SNP members vote on plan for pensions in an independent Scotland ([link removed])
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A Facebook post ([link removed]) claimed that the SNP voted to increase the state pension in an independent Scotland to match the EU average at their conference which took place earlier this week.
That’s not quite right. The conference voted in favour of commissioning a plan to look at how pension levels could be increased. The resolution setting this out also mentioned that the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average of 63% of pre-retirement earnings should be set as a target.
This claim needs to retire ([link removed])
Thanks for your support and have a great weekend from the team at Full Fact.
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