We asked readers to send us election claims to fact check - so what did they spot?
In April we launched our elections tipline, as part of our work covering the 2026 elections. We asked our readers to send us claims they’d seen being made by candidates and parties in their local area, via a dedicated WhatsApp number or via email. And we asked them particularly to send us claims that might not have otherwise been visible online, such as those in leaflets or local paper ads, or on posters.
In the six weeks leading up to polling day we received dozens of tips from all across the country—from southern Somerset and inner London boroughs, northern towns like Great Harwood in Lancashire and Scottish cities like Aberdeen.
Join 73,000 newsletter subscribers who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
Most of those who contacted us were in England, where we saw leaflets and letters from all the major parties but particularly Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats, which together accounted for around two-thirds of the claims we were sent.
We were also contacted by readers in Scotland, one of whom, Julie, sent us this bar chart from Scottish Labour which we fact checked.
Bar charts were in fact a common theme—they accounted for over 40% of the tips that came through, and several we were sent helped shape our wider investigation into misleading and unreliable local election bar charts.
The second most common theme among the tips we were sent was claims about councils’ delivery on local issues such as potholes and bins, as shown in the two examples below.
National policies were also frequently highlighted in the examples of campaign literature we were sent, however. For example, several people sent us letters to voters from senior Reform UK figures including Nigel Farage and Robert Jenrick which criticised the Labour government’s record on the economy, immigration and Net Zero.
Several readers, including R.J. in Halesowen and Richard in Bromley, also sent us examples of Reform leaflets making claims about the party’s record on council tax, which we wrote about in detail.
We’d like to thank all of our readers who got in touch during the campaign. Our dedicated WhatsApp tipline has now closed, for the time being at least. But if you would like to get in touch with us about a claim you’ve seen, you can still send us a message via our website—and watch this space for further tip line developments.