Despite claims made to MPs yesterday we’re still waiting for a correction.

1 Apr 2022 | Full Fact's weekly news
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No, the PM hasn't corrected the record on false employment claims

On Wednesday Boris Johnson told a committee of MPs he “thinks” he’s taken steps to correct the record on false claims about employment.

The Prime Minister hasn’t yet corrected these claims. As regular readers will know, Full Fact has counted at least eight occasions since November where the PM has told Parliament that there are more people in work now than prior to the pandemic.

On no occasion was this true. We and others, including the UK Statistics Authority, have challenged the PM’s repeated use of this false claim.

Having acknowledged his mistake this week, the Prime Minister must now finally correct the Parliamentary record. Failing to do so is a breach of the Ministerial Code.

We’re grateful to the Liaison Committee for raising this on Wednesday. Full Fact has also written to the Prime Minister to ask again that he corrects the record.

Friend, what our elected leaders say matters. With your help we can continue to call out false claims, and make sure political debate is based on facts, not fiction.
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FACT CHECK
Chris Bryant MP wrong on 0% EU VAT for solar panels and heat pumps ([link removed])

Labour MP Chris Bryant has claimed that the Chancellor was wrong to suggest the UK can reduce rates of VAT on solar panels and heat pumps “thanks to Brexit”, as zero-rating on these products already happens in the EU.

Mr Bryant’s claim isn’t true.

The EU doesn’t allow states to exempt VAT from heat pumps and doesn’t plan to. The EU is planning to allow member states to set 0% VAT on solar panels from next month, but it’s not in place yet and prior to Brexit the UK was prevented from reducing VAT on solar panels by the European Court of Justice.
More caveats about VAT ([link removed])
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Full Fact is looking for someone to help lead our work combating health misinformation. If you have expertise in health, and an interest in communicating with the public, this is a unique chance to do ground-breaking work when it couldn’t matter more.

Closing date for applications is 18 April.

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FACT CHECK
No evidence for MPs' vaccine claims ([link removed])

Conservative MP Sir Christopher Chope claimed during a recent interview with GB News that there were “probably tens of thousands of people who have suffered severe damage as a result” of Covid-19 vaccines.

There isn’t any real evidence for Mr Chope’s estimate which relies on figures from the Yellow Card scheme. The Yellow Card scheme, run by the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), allows individuals and health professionals to report any suspected reactions or side effects of vaccines, even if the reporter isn’t sure that it was caused by the vaccine.

This isn’t the first time Mr Chope has made unevidenced claims about Covid-19 vaccines. ([link removed])

What the Yellow Card scheme tells us ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Fake Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe photo circulating on social media ([link removed])

A photo purporting to show Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her husband and daughter is being shared on Twitter and Facebook, with a caption along the lines of “What a lovely picture of Richard and Gabriella thrilled to have Nazanin back home”.

In the picture, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British and Iranian dual citizen who was detained in Iran for six years before being released last week, is smiling in the photo, while her husband and their seven-year-old daughter appear unhappy.

But the photo has been digitally altered.

The real picture was shared in a tweet from Labour MP Tulip Siddiq on 17 March that said: “Here’s their first family selfie! #NazaninIsFree”. In it, all three can be seen clearly smiling.

Our fact check ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Facebook video shows actors making a TV series in 2020—not staging the war in Ukraine ([link removed])
* Pelicans don’t push their spines out of their mouth to cool down ([link removed])
* Ukraine is not enacting the ‘Great Reset’ with an app ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
Dangerous false claims are still circulating about the war in Ukraine ([link removed])

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All the best,
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