Europe
The UK won’t have to adopt the Euro by 2020
Even if the UK is still in the EU next year, the Lisbon treaty does not force it to adopt the Euro. The UK has an opt-out from this. Read
Fact checks
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.
Education
Front-page error from the Times about how much private schools save taxpayers
The Times claimed independent schools save taxpayers £20 billion per year. The report they referred to put the figure at £3.5 billion per year. Read
Fact checks
Did Margaret Thatcher say bus users over the age of 25 were failures?
The quote appears to have been coined by a poet. It has since been attributed to Mrs Thatcher, but we don’t know whether she ever quoted it. Read
Fact checks
Pepsi doesn’t use a flavouring made from aborted foetal cells
Pepsi had a contract with a company which develops flavourings using a cell line originally derived from an aborted foetus. But Pepsi says its own flavourings are not developed this way. Read
Fact checks
Economy, Business & Finance
What is the UK’s public debt?
In May 2010, when the Conservative-led coalition came to power, the national debt was £1.03 trillion. As of March 2019 it had risen to £1.80 trillion. Read
Fact checks
Both Labour and the Conservatives should stop making these claims about council tax
Both parties claim their councils charge lower tax. Neither use data that can really be used to compare council tax in different areas. So both are making fairly meaningless claims. Read
Comment
Economy, Business & Finance
Do Conservative councils charge £100 less tax than Labour or Liberal Democrat councils?
The Conservatives’ claim they charge less council tax than Labour is pretty meaningless. It’s based on a flawed method. Read
Fact checks
Does the UK have the world’s third most powerful military?
A think tank ranked the UK third in the world for “military might” but this isn’t the only way to measure military strength. Read
Fact checks
Environment
Do Conservative councils recycle more than Labour ones?
The best available data shows that Conservative councils recycle more of their waste than Labour. Read
Fact checks
Europe
Does the public want no deal?
Some polls indicate no deal is the most preferred Brexit outcome but others don’t. The results are heavily influenced by methodology. Read
Fact checks
