Fact checking claims about entryism and foreign nationals

12 Aug 2022 | Full Fact's weekly news
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FACT CHECK
Who can vote in the Conservative leadership contest?

We’ve received lots of questions from readers about who can vote in the Conservative leadership contest, over concerns about the influence of entryists and foreign nationals.

Details about the Conservative Party’s membership are vague, but we’ve taken a look at the information that is available on how the system works.

Put simply, anyone who has been a member of the Conservative Party for at least three months before the date the ballot closes will be eligible to vote for the new leader. That’s on or before 3 June 2022 in this contest (one month before Boris Johnson announced he would resign).

Estimates of the total number of Conservative Party members range from 150,000 to 200,000 and it costs £25 a year for standard membership.

The Conservative Party does not require its members to be British citizens, or to live in the UK. Conservative Party supporters who live abroad are able to become party members either by applying for membership through a local Conservative association in the UK, or by becoming a member of Conservatives Abroad by joining the Cities of London and Westminster Conservative Association as an overseas member.

The Conservatives Abroad website states that by doing this “you are entitled to all the benefits of party membership, including participation in the Conservative Policy Forum, attendance at party conferences and a vote in the election of the party leader.” It also specifies that “you do not have to be a voter or a UK citizen” to join Conservatives Abroad.

So it is possible for people who are not British citizens and do not live in the UK (and so would not be eligible to vote in a UK general election) to be eligible to vote in the upcoming Conservative leadership contest.

But it is not possible for non-UK citizens living abroad to influence the outcome of the vote by joining the party after the leadership contest was called (as they must have been members for at least three months in order to participate).

Who gets a vote ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Monkeypox is not only spread by sexual contact ([link removed])

A video being shared on TikTok and Facebook questions why children have contracted monkeypox if the spread of the virus occurs through sexual contact.

Similar content has been used to suggest child cases may be evidence of gay and bisexual men abusing children.

According to the UKHSA, there’ve been around 3,000 cases in the UK. The majority of these have been recorded among “gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men connected by sexual networks.”

However, while it’s true that health authorities believe that monkeypox is being spread through sexual contact, it’s not the only way for the virus to spread.

Current NHS guidance says that monkeypox can be passed from person to person through:
* Close physical contact with monkeypox blisters or scabs (including during sexual contact, kissing, cuddling or holding hands)
* Touching clothing, bedding or towels used by someone with monkeypox
* The coughs or sneezes of a person with monkeypox when they're close to you

As of early July, the UKHSA says there has been one case in a child under the age of 16 in the UK this year.

How monkeypox spreads ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Rishi Sunak video fails to say some retained EU laws have already been repealed or replaced ([link removed])

In a new campaign video shared on Twitter, Rishi Sunak has repeated his pledge to review or repeal 2,400 EU laws if he becomes Prime Minister.

But this fails to mention that hundreds of these EU laws have already been amended, repealed or replaced. According to the government’s retained EU law dashboard there are 2,417 items of retained EU law, put onto the UK’s statute book after the end of the transition period.

Of these, at least 196 have been repealed, while 182 are marked on the dashboard as having been amended, meaning they have been substantially changed to alter the intent or outcome of the policy.

A further 33 are marked as having been replaced, which means they have been repealed and new legislation has been introduced.

The EU laws still in place ([link removed])
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