Confused by competing claims over the EU? – try these impartial fact-checking websites

I’ve heard quite a few people saying words along these lines:

I’ve heard claims and counter-claims about the EU and I just don’t know who to believe.

The solution to this quandary is but a quick Google away. Here’s a list of some impartial fact-checking sites who are running a stream of articles on the main issues of the EU debate:

Please spread the word about these sites. It would be a crying shame if, on June 24th, we hear anyone saying:

I didn’t vote because I was confused by the claims and counter-claims of both sides.

* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.

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6 Comments

  • nigel hunter 7th Jun '16 - 10:11am

    The debate up to now seems to be the Establishment versus the Establishment, adults only. The decision will affect the young far longer . It is far more than a squabble between power hungry men. It is the future of the country and its people.

  • Lorenzo Cherin 7th Jun '16 - 1:47pm

    The sort of sensible info we have come to expect of Paul and our much valued site.

    I have to confess, as a EUpragmatist , with none of the feeling on it that so many feel either way , the so called debate , is appalling! The fact that it is mainly a personality contest between to old boys of the same school , Cameron and Johnson , and a senior prefect of a neighbouring one , Farage, with barely a look in from those of us of other schools , of thought and thoughtfulness , does make it irritating !

    So well done , Paul.

  • I second Lorenzo. This is a valuable post.

    One of the (many) lamentable things about the referendum campaign is that people from both sides have been very naughtily copying the “fact check” format and using it to present information that is far from impartial. For an example, see http://infacts.org . This is, as the Americans would say, “dirty pool”. Fact check sites used to be an oasis of relative objectivity; now one has to filter out the phoney fact check sites from the real ones.

    It’s important to note, however, that many of the more contentious debates around the fuure state of the economy in or out of the EU are not really suitable for this kind of “fact checking”, since future economic variables are notoriously unpredictable. Even talking about orders of probability makes this kind of speculation sound more scientific than it actually is. In the early ’90s, when I was studying economics, we had an enthusiastic young lecturer who used to regale us with data-heavy multimedia presentations (very fancy for the time) about how EMU would inevitably lead to a Utopia of political union and unprecedented wealth. I’d love to know what he thinks about the whole thing now.

  • what’s extraordinary is that Gove and co are making all sorts of promises about what will be done with the EU fees, and that no-one is calling them on their inability to deliver any of them (to say nothing of their willingness, post brexit, to deliver them!). I truly think their oen self-importance has dazzled them!

  • I suggest that this whole debate has aligned the misfortune suffered by Clegg and the rest of us with that which threatens Cameron. Both have made political misjudgements: Clegg by going into coalition in the national interest, Cameron by allowing a referendum and now desperately fighting for an in vote in what I believe he genuinely thinks is in the national interest. A paradox?

  • Stephen Booth 8th Jun '16 - 3:16pm

    It would be really helpful if everyone remembered that the only “facts” in this irritating campaign are about things that happened before today – anything else is pure supposition. We may all disappear in a puff of smoke from an asteroid tomorrow. Looked at from that perspective and the credibility of the Brexit campaigners, can any Liberal Democrat who believes in evidence-based policy vote for out?

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