Round-up of fact checks from the last few days compiled by Full Fact.
This roundup of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s largest fact checking charity working to find, expose and counter the harms of bad information.
Spending on incapacity and disability benefit already larger than defence
In a widely-reported article published on his Institute for Global Change’s website former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair claimed that “by the end of this decade, we could be spending more on incapacity and disability benefits than on defence.”
This is correct, but missing important context: it is already the case that the UK spends more on health and disability benefits than defence.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said that in 2025/26 the UK was forecast to spend £83.4 billion on health and disability benefits. Planned defence spending as set out in the Government’s Spending Review for the same year was £62.2 billion.
The Government has set out spending plans up to 2028/29, by which point defence spending is expected to be £73.5 billion. By comparison the OBR forecasts that health and disability spending will reach £99.6 billion in 2028/29.
In February it was reported that the Government was considering bringing forward plans to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by the end of the current parliament, (which is due to be in summer 2029 at the latest). The Institute for Fiscal Studies has reportedly estimated this would cost an additional £13-14 billion per year. No plans for this have been formally set out, however.
We’ve contacted the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change for comment and will update this article if we receive a response.
‘Yorkshire’ church attack video actually filmed in Mexico
Footage shared thousands of times on social media shows a group of people wearing masks attacking a church accompanied by the claim it depicts recent events in Yorkshire. But these claims are wrong: the video was actually filmed in Mexico.
We traced the clip to reports of an incident showing people damaging the doors of the Church of San Francisco in the Mexican city of Santiago de Queretaro in March 2026, following demonstrations on International Women’s Day.
We could not find any evidence of protesters recently attempting to set fire to any churches in Yorkshire, although there was an arson attack on a church in the village of Riccall in 2022.
Claim sunglasses cause cancer has no scientific basis
False claims that wearing sunglasses prevents tanning and raises your risk of skin cancer have been spreading online. A Facebook post liked and shared hundreds of times contains video clips of Andreas Moritz, a “medical intuitive” who reportedly died in 2012.
In the footage, Mr Moritz claims sunglasses block UV light from reaching the eyes, preventing the brain from producing a hormone needed for melanin production in the skin, leaving it “susceptible” to sunlight. The clip includes the claim that the introduction of sunglasses led to a massive increase in cancers.
This isn’t the first time such claims have circulated, but as we’ve said before this theory has no scientific basis. Melanin is the pigment responsible for tanning, which is produced locally by cells in the skin in direct response to UV exposure. It does not depend on light entering the eyes.
In any case, a tan does not protect your skin from the sun’s harmful effects. Verified sunglasses are recommended by the NHS to protect the eyes from UV damage, and there is evidence they reduce the risk of ocular melanoma.
