Ferret Underground: Respite

Hi ,

After weeks of wall-to-wall politics millions of voters head to the polls today, and we’ll know tomorrow whether a new political era has begun for the UK.

Will Labour secure a supermajority? Will church bells toll the death of the Conservative Party? Or are the pollsters completely useless? Will Nigel Farage fail again to be elected as an MP and refuse to accept the result, his followers storming Westminster in a show of defiance? Will it ever get warm this summer?

Here at Ferret HQ, our team is catching its breath after weeks of digging. It’s been manic, to say the least, but we hope our coverage has provided important facts and cut through the spin, the porkies and the misinformation.

We’ve exposed candidates who hold extreme views and those who’ve shared hateful comments and conspiracy theories. We’ve fact checked manifestos and revealed the billionaires and lobbyists who fund political parties, and this work can only be done with your support, so we offer our thanks.

Whatever tomorrow brings, please rest assured The Ferret will keep investigating.

Nearly half of Scottish constituencies include at least one general election candidate who has expressed or shared a view branded as hateful, a conspiracy theory, or misinformation, a Ferret analysis has found.

We identified examples of 32 candidates expressing what critics claim are extreme views, including falsehoods about subjects including climate science or the Covid vaccine, in 26 of Scotland’s 57 Westminster seats.

The controversial opinions were shared on social media or in political interviews or broadcasts.

By far, most of these candidates came from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which is fielding candidates in every Scottish constituency.