Help fact check the General Election campaign

Whoever we decide to vote for in May, we need an election campaign fought on the basis of truth, not spin. In the past, charities would have spoken out if a politician tried to give a false picture of reality, but many now feel gagged by the Lobbying Act passed last year. Happily, one charity exists solely to check facts, but it needs our help to meet the challenge of the election campaign.

Full Fact describes itself as an independent, non-partisan, factchecking organisation.

"Since we launched in 2010, MPs, Ministers, government departments, pressure groups and nearly every national newspaper from the Sun to the Financial Times have issued corrections as a result of our research." On its website, Full Fact also presents the information clearly, to be shared on social media, so everybody can play their part in challenging spin.

Full Fact wants to factcheck the General Election, from 6am to midnight every day.

"Since November 2014 we've been amassing a small army of volunteers and building links with some of the country's top research organisations to help us get ready for the election. But now we can't actually fit everyone in our office, so 3Space have given us this enormous place on Oxford Street to use during the election period. At the moment it's empty. We need to kit out this room, pay volunteers’ expenses and get our experts on the airwaves as much as we can during the election."

There are two main costs:
- Start-up costs, which include setting up the hub and kitting it out with reliable computers, quick internet lines and monitoring tools.
- Day-to-Day costs, like supporting volunteers and transporting our experts to and from SKY, BBC and ITV so they can tell us the real story!

Factchecking for 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks costs money. Full Fact needs £25,000 by February 27th to make sure no false claim goes unchallenged.

If you can help to get the election fought on the basis of facts not spin, please contribute to the crowdfunder campaign, or if you can’t contribute, just spread the word.

You can follow @FullFact on Twitter.

* More General Election issues and commentary from Ekklesia: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/generalelection2015

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© Bernadette Meaden has written about political, religious and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor. You can follow her on Twitter: @BernaMeaden