Rishi Sunak’s New Year speech fact checked
We’ve looked at some of the claims made by the PM in his first speech of 2023. Read
Analysis
Abbas Panjwani
Fact Checker (former)
Abbas joined Full Fact in 2018. Before this, he worked as a social researcher, collecting quantitative and qualitative research to help inform policy development and evaluation for government departments and other public bodies. Most recently he worked as research manager at Ofgem, Great Britain’s energy regulator, and has also worked on projects for BIS, the Home Office and the Competition and Markets Authority.
UK Government doesn’t retain £50bn of Scottish taxes
Posts on social media overcount and double count Scottish revenues while undercounting Scottish expenditure. Read
Fact checks
Contrails can last for hours
A false claim that contrails, the lines of frozen water vapour which form behind planes, disappear quickly is being used to suggest that chemtrails exist. Read
Fact checks
Economy, Business & Finance
Senior SNP politicians mislead on renewable energy generation
Scotland produces about as much renewable electricity as the total amount of electricity it consumes—but it also generates electricity from nuclear power stations and fossil fuels. Read
Fact checks
Economy, Business & Finance
Liz Truss wrong to repeatedly say energy bills are capped at £2,500
This figure is based on the amount a “typical” household with average use will pay—but total bills aren’t capped. Read
Fact checks
Health
Health secretary’s claim on health spending fact checked
Dr Thérèse Coffey said health and social care account for 40% of government day-to-day spending. That’s only true if you don’t count spending on things like pensions. Read
Fact checks
Boris Johnson’s final speech as PM: fact checked
We’ve checked six key claims from Boris Johnson’s final speech as Prime Minister, on the vaccine rollout, NHS, schools and more. Read
Analysis
Zara hasn’t banned women wearing hijab from its stores
The claim has been reshared on social media after first going viral in 2015. Read
Fact checks
Health
Health spending isn’t set to account for almost half of all taxes
Figures quoted by LBC presenter Nick Ferrari didn’t take account of the total amount of public spending. Read
Fact checks
Health
No evidence for link between AIDS epidemic and smallpox vaccine
An article in a 1987 edition of the Times claimed a possible link between the smallpox vaccine and AIDS. There is no evidence for such a link. Read
Fact checks
