This summary of claims from the campaign trail has been compiled by , the UK鈥檚 largest fact checking organisation working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information, as part of the PA news agency鈥檚 Election Check 24.
Annual vs cumulative figures
Several headline-grabbing figures we鈥檝e seen quoted in recent weeks have a curious thing in common鈥攊t鈥檚 not immediately clear whether they are an annual amount, or cover a number of years added together.
And in the case of at least three claims from the Conservatives, the , even though often this isn鈥檛 apparent from the way they are quoted.
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has previously raised concerns about cumulative figures being quoted without it being clear that they cover multiple years.
One prominent example is the Conservatives鈥 claim that a Labour government would mean a 拢2,000 tax rise for every working family. As we鈥檝e said before, that figure is unreliable鈥攂ut it鈥檚 also an estimate of the additional tax families would supposedly pay cumulatively over the next four years under Labour, not every single year, as some might assume.
A statement by the OSR noted 鈥渟omeone hearing the claim would have no way of knowing that this is an estimate summed together over four years鈥.
Similarly, the Conservatives鈥 claim that Labour鈥檚 pension plans would result in a 鈥溌1,000 retirement tax鈥 is based on their analysis of what their 鈥渢riple lock plus鈥 policy would cumulatively save the 鈥渁verage pensioner鈥 between 2025/26 and 2029/30, compared to Labour鈥檚 plans which would retain the existing rules. We鈥檝e sometimes seen this figure quoted in ways that don鈥檛 make it clear it covers a five-year period.
And before the election was called, we saw the Conservatives claim they had pledged to increase defence spending by an 鈥渁dditional 拢75 billion鈥 by 2030. One problem with this claim is that it assumes spending would otherwise have been frozen in cash terms, and fallen as a percentage of GDP, over the next six years. But it was also a cumulative rather than annual total, which as a 2022 House of Commons Library briefing about a similar claim noted, is 鈥渘ot how increases and decreases in spending are usually discussed鈥.
The SNP manifesto
On Wednesday, the Scottish National Party published its manifesto.
, Scottish First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney MSP claimed that Scotland 鈥渉as essentially decarbonised鈥 its electricity.
Scotland generates more renewable electricity than all the electricity it uses, but much of that renewable power is exported.
In 2023 about 65% of the electricity Scotland actually used came from renewables. Some 11% came from fossil fuels and a further 23% from nuclear power plants.
The SNP鈥檚 manifesto claims the Scottish government has 鈥渇rozen council tax across Scotland鈥. This is true for the current financial year, but doesn鈥檛 tell the full story.
Council tax in Scotland was frozen between 2008/09 and 2016/17. It increased between 2017/18 and 2020/21 (at capped rates), before being frozen again in 2021/22. Rates generally rose in 2022/23 and in 2023/24, and were then frozen again for 2024/25. The Scottish government has not yet said if council tax will be frozen next year.
