Hannah Smith

Economy, Business & Finance

Living standards are still forecast to rise following the Budget—but it’s a smaller rise than was expected before

By Hannah Smith • 2 mins

Shadow chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed Labour’s Budget was going to mean “lower living standards”. Read

Economy, Business & Finance

Is Labour right to claim there’s a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances?

By Hannah Smith • 8 mins

It’s been a key government claim since the election and featured heavily in the Budget - but what does it actually mean? Read

Immigration

PM’s conference speech claim about ‘23% increase’ in immigration returns based on unpublished data

By Hannah Smith • 3 mins

Sir Keir Starmer claimed there’d been a “23% increase” in returns compared to last summer. But the data this is based on hasn’t been published, so we’re unable to verify it. Read

Inaccurate comparison of benefit fraud and tax losses recirculates on social media

By Hannah Smith • 4 mins

It’s not true that 360 times more money is lost to tax evasion than benefit fraud, as posts on social media have claimed. Read

Economy, Business & Finance

‘Basic state pension’ is not set to increase by ‘£400 or more’ over the next year

By Hannah Smith • 2 mins

Labour minister Pat McFadden made this claim during a radio interview, but may have been referring to the expected increase in the new state pension instead. Read

Education

Are student loan repayments really ‘the cost of a pint of beer’?

By Hannah Smith • 4 mins

We’ve crunched the numbers after a claim on the Today programme from former Labour cabinet minister Alan Johnson. Read