Latest fact checks

13 November 2014

How the Barnett formula is 'flawed' in favour of Scotland and Northern Ireland

The IFS says that the way the Barnett formula treats business rates means that Scotland and Northern Ireland have faced lower cuts to public spending than England and Wales. We outline how the Barnett formula works—and how it doesn't.

10 November 2014

Factcheck: Did George Osborne halve the UK's EU bill?

Has Britain's £1.7bn additional contribution to the EU budget been 'halved', or were we always due a rebate?

7 November 2014

Ask Full Fact: have one in five young people slept rough in the past year?

Via Twitter: 'Survey: 18 per cent of young people have slept rough in the past year ... can this be right?' The claim comes from a ComRes survey commissioned by …

6 November 2014

What have immigrants contributed to the economy? Making sense of the headlines

Immigration headlines appeared contradictory and others didn't say what 'kinds' of migrant they were referring to. Yet all the headlines refer to the same report.

6 November 2014

Downwardly mobile?

'More people are moving down, rather than up, the social ladder as the number of middle-class managerial and professional jobs shrinks' — The Guardian This is how most of this …

5 November 2014

What you need to know about the Treasury's tax statement

The treasury says that mailing out individual statements this week telling taxpayers what their money is being spent on is an act of transparency. But are the letters really that clear?

31 October 2014

The only way is Essex? Actually, there's another way.

Sometimes the way statisticians see things can be quite different to the way ordinary people do. During this week's Prime Minister's Questions MP Sir Bob Russell said: "More people live …

31 October 2014

IFS cuts through the confusion

"In this parliament we will have made £100 billion of savings while cutting income tax by £10.5 billion. In the next parliament we plan to make £25 billion of savings …

30 October 2014

Bad Graphs: Is this graph doing well or badly?

Take a look at the Y axis. It's easy to be misled by the scale. The graph from the website May2015.com is using a logarithmic scale: the Y axis progresses …

30 October 2014

Factcheck: Failed asylum seeker headlines

"175,000 failed asylum seekers are still awaiting deportation" Daily Mirror "Officials cannot find 50,000 rejected asylum seekers" The Guardian "Officials have lost track of 50,000 illegal immigrants and failed to …

29 October 2014

Why the UK is being asked to pay £1.7 billion to the EU

The European Commission has asked the UK to contribute an extra £1.7 billion to its budget by 1 December. The Prime Minister's words to MPs this week were defiant: "Britain …

24 October 2014

What the UK already pays to the EU

The Prime Minister has reportedly called for emergency talks to discuss an additional £1.7 billion payment the UK has been told it has to pay into the European Union budget. …

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How the Barnett formula is 'flawed' in favour of Scotland and Northern Ireland

Factcheck: Did George Osborne halve the UK's EU bill?

Ask Full Fact: have one in five young people slept rough in the past year?

What have immigrants contributed to the economy? Making sense of the headlines

Downwardly mobile?

What you need to know about the Treasury's tax statement

The only way is Essex? Actually, there's another way.

IFS cuts through the confusion

Bad Graphs: Is this graph doing well or badly?

Factcheck: Failed asylum seeker headlines

Why the UK is being asked to pay £1.7 billion to the EU

What the UK already pays to the EU

Full Fact fights bad information