Why politicians silence on correction requests is undermining public trust

Politicians are failing to respond to Full Fact’s interventions seeking corrections when they make a false or misleading statement. In the first two months of 2024 alone, we’ve contacted 14 politicians seeking a correction to a false or misleading statement. All of them have yet to respond.

In a general election year, it is imperative that the standards of public debate are the highest possible to give voters the ability to make an informed choice.

Find out more

Contents:

1. Here is a list of MPs who we've contacted but have yet to respond

1. Steve Brine MP
2. Bim Afolami MP
3. Grant Shapps MP
4. Andrea Leadsom MP
5. Robin Millar MP
6. Jonathan Gullis MP
7. Lee Anderson MP
8. Brendan Clarke-Smith MP
9. Richard Holden MP
10. Rishi Sunak MP
11. Oliver Dowden MP
12. Angela Rayner MP
13. Janet Daby MP
14. Anneliese Dodds MP

2. What are Full Fact doing to hold MPs to account for the claims they make?

3. What can you do to help uplift standards in public debate?

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1. Here is a list of MPs who we've contacted but have yet to respond:

Steve Brine MP

Claimed 40% of consultants are members of the BMA union, which rejected the government’s pay offer.

Bim Afolami MP

Claimed the NHS is about 42-43% of everything the government spends.

Grant Shapps MP

Claimed Labour have a majority in the House of Lords.

Andrea Leadsom MP

Claimed the government provided £450 billion of funding that kept people in work and kept business afloat.

Robin Millar MP

Repeated misleading claim about Labour’s immigration plans

Jonathan Gullis MP

Repeated misleading claim about Labour’s immigration plans

Lee Anderson MP

Repeated misleading claim about Labour’s immigration plans.

Brendan Clarke-Smith MP

Repeated misleading claim about Labour’s immigration plans

Richard Holden MP

Repeated misleading claim about Labour’s immigration plans.

Rishi Sunak MP

Claimed that the “asylum backlog” has been “cleared”.

Oliver Dowden MP

Claimed on Sky News that NHS waiting list numbers were falling before the pandemic “on many measures”.

Angela Rayner MP

Claimed people are on average over £10,000 a year worse off as a result of poor growth over the last 14 years.

Janet Daby MP

Repeated claims that people are on average over £10,000 a year worse off as a result of poor growth over the last 14 years.

Anneliese Dodds MP

Contacted about several claims, including one in Labour’s Missions Document claiming that there have been “4,000 GPs cut” under the Conservative Government.

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2. What are Full Fact doing to hold MPs to account for the claims they make?

As well as seeking corrections from MPs, Full Fact has launched a campaign looking at the claims MPs make in leaflets to their constituents. One key area of concern is how political parties are dressing up campaign literature to look like local newspapers. 

This risks misleading the public about the nature of a piece of literature making it harder for voters to separate political campaigning from trusted local news sources. We’re calling for political parties to stop this before the announcement of the general election.

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3. What can you do to help uplift standards in public debate?

There are several steps you can take to help hold those in power to account for the statements they make. 

1. Join over 15,000 people and sign our petition calling for an end to politicians presenting leaflets as newspapers. 
2. Subscribe to our mailing list 
3. Help keep politicians honest by donating to support Full Fact.

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All images courtesy of the House of Commons