Liz Truss proudly declared during her Conservative Party conference speech that she is the “first Prime Minister of our country to go to a comprehensive school”.
It is true that the Prime Minister attended a comprehensive school, specifically she was a pupil at Roundhay School, in Leeds, Yorkshire.
But her claim to be the first PM to have done so, a claim also made by Wales Secretary Robert Buckland on Sky News, has been called into question.
Claim: ‘I am the first Prime Minister of our country to go to a comprehensive school’
Liz Truss’s claim caused an argument among those online who pointed to the education history of other former PMs. The Government’s own website states that former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May also went to a comprehensive.
However, Mrs May attended the grammar school Holton Park Girls, in Oxfordshire. It went on to become Wheatley Park Comprehensive School in 1971, while she was still attending.
A spokesperson for Wheatley Park told Full Fact that Mrs May joined the school when she was 13, “when the Upper School site was still Holton Girls Grammar School” and left after Sixth Form, by which time it was the Upper School site of Wheatley Park Comprehensive School.
“The school was officially a comprehensive from September 1971,” the school said.
Former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown could also lay claim to having attended a comprehensive school. His former school, Kirkcaldy High, became a comprehensive in the early 1970s.
However, prior to this it had been a selective grammar which still had entrance exams up until 1970.
Mr Brown is said to have attended two years early as part of a fast track scheme, and would have been there in the 1960s.
Fact check: Ms Truss could be said to be correct, on a technicality.
When questioned about the other leaders who went to state schools, Ms Truss’s press secretary said: “My understanding is this is quite complicated and it changed halfway through and comps weren’t actually called comps until the 60s or something like that.
“I’m not going to do a pop quiz on former PMs’ schooling.”
During her speech, Ms Truss had said that going to a comprehensive “taught me two things: one is that we have huge talent across our country and two that we’re not making enough of it”.
She said: “This is a great country. I’m so proud of who we are and what we stand for, but I know that we can do better and I know that we must do better and that’s why I entered politics.
“I want to live in a country where hard work’s rewarded, where women can walk home safely at night and where our children have a better future.”
Claim: ‘Inflation is high across the world’s major economies’
During her speech Ms Truss claimed that “inflation is high across the world’s major economies”.
She added: “We’re dealing with the global economic crisis caused by Covid and by (Vladimir) Putin’s appalling war in Ukraine.
“In these tough times, we need to step up. I’m determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest and put us on a stronger footing as a nation.”
Fact check: It is true that the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen prices rising globally.
However, inflation is higher in the UK than in most other major economies, and the highest in the G7, due in part to the UK’s reliance on imported oil and gas and the declining value of the pound.
UK inflation reached double digits (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) for the first time in 40 years in July, hitting 10.1 per cent. It dropped down to 9.9 per cent in August but remains well above the Bank of England’s benchmark of two per cent.
By comparison, Japan currently has the lowest inflation rate in the G7 at 3 per cent.
Claim: ‘We are keeping corporation tax at 19 per cent, the lowest in the G20’
While setting out her spate of tax cuts, Ms Truss claimed: “We are keeping corporation tax at 19 per cent, the lowest in the G20.”
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had confirmed the tax on company profits would remain at 19 per cent in his mini-budget.
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak had previously announced that they would rise to 25 per cent in April 2023.
Fact check: Ms Truss’s claim is true if you compare the UK to the other individual countries in the G20.
However, the European Union is also a member of the G20 and there are quite a few countries in the EU where the rate of corporation tax is lower than 19 per cent. In Ireland, for example, the rate is set at 12.5 per cent.
Claim: ‘Our fantastic Deputy Prime Minister and health secretary will deliver for patients so they can expect a GP appointment within two weeks’
During a section of the speech in which she discussed her plans for the NHS, Ms Truss said patients could “expect a GP appointment within two weeks”.
This claim refers to the Government’s recent pledge on GP access.
In a policy paper published last month outlining plans for the NHS in England, it said it would “set the expectation that everyone who needs an appointment with their practice within two weeks can get one”.
Fact check: It was unclear at the time whether this two-week waiting time was a target, requirement or just an expectation. The Department for Health and Social Care has since confirmed the two-week waiting time is an “expectation” rather than a strict requirement.
The Government also plans to publish data “showing exactly how many appointments each practice in England is delivering and how long people wait between booking an appointment and receiving one”.
So what Ms Truss claims is true, but there’s no guarantee patients will definitely get an appointment within two weeks.
Claim: ‘By the end of the year all EU red tape will be consigned to history’
Ms Truss said during her speech: “We are building an economy which makes the most of the huge opportunities Brexit offers.
“By the end of the year, all EU-inspired red tape will be consigned to history.
“Instead, we will ensure regulation is pro-business and pro-growth.
“Leaving the EU gives us the chance to do things differently. And we need more of that.
Fact check: Ms Truss is apparently referring to EU laws which have been retained in UK statute books following Brexit.
But according to her Government’s official policy, these laws will not disappear until the end of next year.
According to the Brexit Freedoms Bill, introduced last month by Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, all retained EU law that has not been amended, repealed or replaced by 31 December 2023 will be automatically “sunset”.
Number 10 has also since confirmed the deadline remains December 2023.
The Prime Minister does appear to have misspoken, as the official transcript for her speech reads “by the end of next year”.
