Explainer
Small boats, asylum and illegal immigration are not the same thing
Small-boat arrivals, asylum seekers, illegal entry and long-term migration overlap — but they measure different populations. Mixing them ...
Learn
Understand the issues. Check the claims. Follow the evidence.
Politics moves quickly. Claims get repeated, statistics lose their context, and complex issues are reduced to slogans.
This is where we bring together clear explanations, fact checks and reliable sources so you can look beyond the headline and see what the evidence actually says.
Start with whatever looks useful.
01
Understand the issues
Clear, sourced explanations of the issues behind the headlines.
- Reform UK
- Immigration & asylum
- Brexit & Europe
- The economy
- Energy & Net Zero
- Democracy & institutions
02
Check a claim
Heard a claim about Reform, immigration, Brexit, the economy or another political issue? Find it in language similar to the way you encountered it.
- The short answer
- What the evidence shows
- The sources behind it
- When it was last checked
03
Spot misinformation
Practical help for recognising misleading political content, written for ordinary readers rather than specialists.
- Why screenshots and memes are not reliable sources
- How outrage-bait works
- How to fact-check a viral claim
- AI-generated content and misinformation
- How to judge whether a source is credible
Spotting misinformation
How to read a political policy costing
A precise number is not automatically a reliable number. Five questions reveal whether a political costing is a model you can test or sim...
Spotting misinformation
Why screenshots and memes aren't reliable sources
A screenshot can be genuine.
04
Sources & evidence
Help finding the evidence for yourself, organised around what you want to check rather than a long directory of logos.
Migration
- ONS
- Home Office
- Migration Observatory
Tax / public spending
- IFS
- OBR
- House of Commons Library
Living standards
- ONS
- Resolution Foundation
Brexit / UK-EU relations
- UK in a Changing Europe
- OBR
- House of Commons Library
Fact checking
- Full Fact
Source note
Mark Sawyer’s Reform UK evidence report: a reader’s guide
A 480-page independent report examines Reform’s funding, governance, policy feasibility and preparation for government. Here is what it i...
Source note
Understanding UK migration data: which source tells you what?
Immigration statistics can look contradictory.