For all the talk of honesty recently, do actions match words?

15 Jul 2022 | Full Fact's weekly news
View in your browser ([link removed])

CAMPAIGN
Has your MP corrected the record?

We’ve heard a lot from MPs in the last week about the importance of honesty in politics. It’s easy for them to say. But we know their actions don’t always match their words.

Out of all the MPs Full Fact has fact checked so far this year, only two have gone on to correct their mistakes.

Together we can demand better. We’ve published the names of every MP who has made an inaccurate or misleading claim so far this year, and failed to correct the record after we requested they do so.

Their names won’t be removed until they correct themselves.

The list ([link removed])
More than 28,000 people have joined our campaign to demand better from MPs. Will you add your name?
Yes, I’ll sign the petition for honesty in politics ([link removed])
NEWS
Live fact-checking the leadership debates

The Conservative Leadership election will decide our next Prime Minister. If candidates are serious about earning public trust, they can prove it now.

This Sunday we’re working with ITV News to fact check their leadership debate. We’ll be scrutinising claims made by all candidates, and publishing our analysis on the night.

This work is only possible thanks to the support of our donors.

Give today to help fact check the leadership election.
Give now ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
The claims so far

“I will introduce an immediate 50% cut in VAT on fuel, reducing filling up the average family car by £10 per fill.” —Penny Mordaunt

This looks slightly too high. At the moment, 32p of an average-priced litre of fuel is VAT. If the rate were halved, as Ms Mordaunt is suggesting, it would therefore save drivers about 16p per litre. The RAC considers an average family car to have a capacity of 55 litres. So a car with a fuel tank that size would cost about £8.80 less to fill under Ms Mordaunt’s plan.

"Changes tomorrow to the National Insurance Thresholds will save a typical employee £330 per year." —Rishi Sunak

It’s true the amount an employee can earn before they begin paying National Insurance increased from £9,880 per year to £12,570 per year. However Mr Sunak’s £330 figure does not show the impact of the 1.25 percentage point increase in National Insurance contributions which was introduced three months ago.

Factoring in both tax changes, employees earning less than £35,000 will pay less in National Insurance than in the previous year, while those earning above £35,000 will actually pay more.

“The candidates to replace [Boris Johnson] have promised £330 billion in giveaways.” —Keir Starmer

Labour reached its figure by adding together estimated costs of pledges on tax cuts and spending made by all 11 leadership candidates—including the same pledges made by multiple candidates. As such, this estimate involves double-counting similar policies.

For example, Labour adds up Tom Tugendhat, Sajid Javid and Liz Truss all promising to reverse the National Insurance increase (essentially counting the same policy three times).

Leadership claims: Fact checked ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Claim two-thirds of child asylum seekers are actually adults is false ([link removed])
* Covid vaccines have not killed twice as many people as the virus ([link removed])
* And... did Boris Johnson actually resign? ([link removed])

Read our latest fact checks ([link removed])
Stop the spread of bad information

Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
[link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fnews%2Fconservative-leadership-2022-fact-checked%2F Tweet ([link removed]: https%3A%2F%2Ffullfact.org%2Fnews%2Fconservative-leadership-2022-fact-checked%2F)
[link removed] Forward ([link removed])
[link removed] Share ([link removed])
All the best,
Team Full Fact

============================================================
** Follow us ([link removed])
** Donate ([link removed])
** Like us ([link removed])
** Follow us ([link removed])
Have any questions or feedback? Please ** get in touch via our contact form ([link removed])
. We do not respond to direct replies to this email address.

Find out ** how Full Fact is funded ([link removed])
.

Copyright © Full Fact 2022 - All rights reserved

A registered charity (no. 1158683) and a non-profit company (no. 6975984) limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales.

Our mailing address is:
17 Oval Way, London, SE11 5RR

We use Mailchimp to send you our emails and to see which articles are most popular. ** Read our privacy policy ([link removed])
or ** Mailchimp's privacy policy ([link removed])

** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
** update subscription preferences ([link removed])