Contrary to a claim made by Iain Duncan Smith on LBC

1 Jul 2022 | Full Fact's weekly news
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FACT CHECK
Successful asylum seekers will not return from Rwanda

“The people that [the government] are going to be sending [to Rwanda] are going to be essentially those that are suspected strongly of being there for economic reasons where they’ll be processed. If they’re wrong, they’ll come back to the UK.” - Sir Iain Duncan Smith

This is incorrect. The terms of the UK’s partnership with Rwanda mean that people sent there will not return to the UK, unless the UK specifically requests it.

The document outlining the terms of the scheme says: “For those recognised as refugees by Rwanda, Rwanda will grant the Relocated Individual refugee status and provide the same level of support and accommodation as a Relocated Individual seeking asylum, integration into society and freedom of movement in accordance with the Refugee Convention.”

Although LBC presenter Camilla Tominey correctly challenged Sir Iain, saying “they don’t come back to the UK, that’s the whole point,” the MP did not directly address this in his reply. We contacted Sir Iain to request a correction. He is yet to respond.

Refugees and Rwanda ([link removed])
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FACT CHECK
Old image of Glastonbury aftermath re-emerges on social media ([link removed])

We’ve previously written about the re-emergence of old photos of rubbish at Glastonbury, and attempts to use them to criticise the festival’s environmental credentials.

Perhaps predictably, it’s happened again this year.

One such social media post reads “The aftermath of Glastonbury festival, where they all cheered in support of Greta Thunberg, who was flown in to lecture on saving the planet”.

But the image they’ve used to illustrate this is from 2015. There’s also no evidence Ms Thunberg was “flown in.” The environmental activist is an outspoken opponent of air travel, and has previously travelled to the UK by train.

All this said, significant amounts of rubbish are left behind after Glastonbury. Following the conclusion of this year’s festival, hundreds of volunteers are involved in clean-up efforts at the site, with attendees having been encouraged to ‘leave no trace’ by taking everything home with them.

The festival also takes a break every five years for what’s known as a “fallow year”, to allow the site to recover.

Glastonbury claims are rubbish ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
The number of people in poverty has remained relatively stable since 2010 ([link removed])

“After 12 years in government, the Tories have left the UK economy in the doldrums and pushed millions of people into poverty.” - Ian Blackford

It’s correct to say that there are millions of people living in poverty in the UK. The government uses a number of different metrics to estimate poverty figures, and these show that between 8.8 million and 13.4 million lived in low income households in 2020/21. Some have predicted these figures will increase sharply in future years amid the cost of living crisis.

However if “pushed millions of people into poverty” is taken to mean millions of people who were not previously in poverty now are, it is a misleading claim. The total number of people in poverty has remained relatively stable since 2010, with some measures showing a drop.

There are three metrics we can look at, the first two being official government figures for ‘relative poverty’ and ‘absolute poverty.’

The first measures the number of people in households where the income is below 60% of the national median average that year. By this metric, the number of people in poverty has remained relatively stable between 2010 and now.

The second measures the number of people in households where the income is below 60% of the average median level in 2010/11, adjusted for inflation. By this metric of absolute poverty, the number has actually fallen by between one and two million people.

The third metric we considered is calculated by a panel of experts independent of the government, called the Social Metrics Commission. They also found that the number of people in poverty dropped slightly between 2009/10 and 2019/20.

They estimate that in 2009/10 there were 14.2 million people in poverty, falling by around 300,000 to 13.9 million people in 2019/20 (the most recent year for which they have completed their analysis).

There are some helpful graphs in our piece ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
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* Times graph on Boris Johnson’s leadership mixes up poll results ([link removed])
* Study on male fertility doesn’t show depopulation plan ([link removed])
* And no, Carrie Johnson’s mother did not appear on recent episode of Question Time ([link removed])

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