The 73% figure describes growth since 1990, not since 2010. This means it covers a much longer period that also includes 13 years of Labour government.
Claim 2️⃣
Mr Johnson’s government has reintroduced a system in which all student nurses receive a non-repayable grant from the government, but it does not pay their tuition fees on their behalf, which was the system when the old bursary applied.
Claim 3️⃣
Many countries had launched apps that were operational when the PM was speaking.
However, at the time it was not yet clear whether any of their technological approaches were effective, or whether they’d been downloaded widely enough to reduce the spread of Covid.
Claim 4️⃣
This is a misleading way to measure it.
If you account for inflation, which is the fairest way to compare sums of money across time, then the ‘real terms’ value of the spending increase was £20.5 billion - which is not a record.
Claim 5️⃣
Vaccination is highly effective against the worst effects of Covid-19, but it is not perfectly effective.
It’s not right to say that the link has been completely “severed” between infection and serious disease or death, although it has certainly been severely weakened.
There are rules about "unparliamentary language".
And there is also the Ministerial Code.
Any Minister that has not given accurate or truthful information to Parliament is obliged to correct this at the earliest opportunity.
We look forward to hearing from the PM on 6 Sep.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
At #PMQs today, Rishi Sunak said “this week we’re cutting taxes by £900 for everyone in work”.
This isn’t correct, for at least two reasons. (1/5)
The £900 figure refers to the combined impact of *two* reductions in National Insurance, each of two percentage points. One was introduced in April, but the other came into effect in January. (2/5)
It’s also not true that *everyone* will see a £900 tax cut.
Each NI reduction is worth around £450 for someone on the average salary of £35,400—but some will save less and others more. (3/5)
At #PMQs, Rishi Sunak said there are “hundreds of thousands fewer children in poverty today thanks to this government”.
This figure is correct in terms of *absolute* poverty, but *relative* poverty statistics paint a different picture.
(1/4)
There are different measures of poverty.
The number of children in *absolute* poverty after housing costs has fallen from 3.7m in 2009/10 to 3.3m in 2021/22.
The equivalent figures before housing costs also show a drop, from 2.5m to 2.2m. (2/4)
The number of children in *relative* poverty however has increased since 2009/10 - from 3.9m to 4.2m after housing costs, and from 2.6m to 2.9m before housing costs. (3/4)
At #PMQs Rishi Sunak claimed Labour’s immigration plan involves “a cosy deal with the EU which would see the UK accept 100,000 illegal migrants”.
As we’ve previously explained, this figure is a Conservative party estimate which is not reliable. (1/4) buff.ly/3FW71MR
The estimate makes a number of assumptions about a potential future returns deal with the EU, and appears to misinterpret a recent EU agreement on relocating some asylum seekers across the bloc. (2/4)
In September Sir Keir Starmer said he would ultimately seek a returns deal with the EU if elected, but Labour has said it wouldn’t sign the UK up to an EU quota agreement. It hasn’t said what a future returns deal might look like, or how many migrants it would accept. (3/4)
The estimate Mr Sunak seemed to be referring to makes several assumptions and appears to misinterpret a recent EU agreement on relocating some asylum seekers across the bloc. (2/4)
Mr Starmer has said he’d seek a returns deal with the EU, but Labour has not said how many migrants it would accept, and has denied it’d join an EU quota scheme. (3/4)
📢 NEW REPORT: Today, we have released a report tracking the misrepresentation of data across at least three government departments.
Read the report here: 🧵 (1/4) fullfact.org/media/uploads/…
Our report examines how if data is presented without context or caveats, if it is described incorrectly, or if data is given too much weight, it can give an incomplete or misleading picture. (2/4)
In some cases this is simply done in error, and is understandable in a one-off scenario. But, when this happens repeatedly, even after the error has been pointed out, then this appears to be being done in pursuit of political advantage. (3/4)
2022 was a damaging year for standards in public debate.
The latest Full Fact Report is out today, and sets out how politicians, the media and others can improve trust and safeguard UK democracy ahead of the next election.
🔴As many as 50 MPs, including two Prime Ministers, Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet Ministers, failed to correct false, unevidenced or misleading claims, despite our repeated calls for them to do so
🔴The statistics regulator had to write to the UK Government at least 10 times to challenge it on its use of statistics or other data