High Pressure

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Rishi Sunak and his government ministers have been busy giving interviews and making speeches at The annual Conservative Party conference.

Here are some of The claims from their Time In Manchester.

Is inflation a tax?

Speaking on Laura Kuenssberg 's programme, The Prime Minister would not promise to cut taxes and instead wanted to Focus On inflation.

He Said : " The Best tax cut I can deliver for The British People is to halve inflation. "

When challenged on this he repeated: " Inflation is a tax. "

A similar claim was made by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk , Who Said that halving inflation would mean 5% more in people's pockets.

Inflation is not a tax, although high inflation can clearly make people worse off because it means higher prices.

A tax is a charge or levy made by a government, typically to pay for services.

Mr Sunak also wanted to highlight his record in reducing inflation. He Said : " I spent The First year stabilising things, making progress on bringing inflation down. "

Inflation has come down since The PM pledged to halve it from 10. 7% at The End of 2022, to 5. 3% by The End of 2023. The government is using a measure called The Consumer Prices Index,

Despite The recent falls - - analysts remain divided about whether The PM's goal will be achieved.

However, The Bank of England

Core inflation, which strips out factors like energy and Food - which are more vulnerable to global price Swings - has seen only a modest reduction.

Does HS2 cost 10 times More Than similar projects in France?

There has much speculation about HS2 and whether The Birmingham to Manchester leg will be scrapped amid escalating costs.

In his conference speech, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said that " it costs 10 times more" to build High Speed rail in The UK than France.

BBC Verify asked The Treasury how this figure was calculated. It did not provide The Detail , directing us instead to The Conservative Party , which did not reply.

There are no recent comparisons between The cost in France and The UK.

In 2015, a estimated The cost of building HS2 at " up to nine times higher than The cost of constructing High Speed lines in France".

The Report estimated The HS2 Phase One construction (which started at 2017) cost at around £90m per kilometre while similar projects in France, carried out between 1990 to 2011, cost between £9m-£15m per kilometre (in 2010 prices).

The Report said possible reasons for The Price difference include expensive tunnelling required in The UK but not in France, The cost of a new station at Birmingham and renovation of Euston Station , as well as The State of The UK railway construction industry.

Has The UK decarbonised faster than any other country?

Mr Sunak also told Bbc News The UK had decarbonised faster than any other country in The G7.

The G7 (Group of Seven) is an organisation of The World 's seven largest " advanced" economies, which includes The UK.

It is true The UK has decarbonised faster than other countries in this group when comparing cuts to Greenhouse Gas emissions since 1990.

UK emissions had fallen by, according to government data.

This figure refers to Greenhouse Gas emissions within The UK. It does not account for The UK's total carbon footprint, which includes emissions related to The manufacture of products that The UK imports from abroad, for example.

Germany is in Second place among The G7, having cut its emissions.

However, Germany has reduced its emissions at a faster rate than The UK since 2016 - The year after The Key international was signed.

In June, The government's climate advisers said.

They cited a " lack of urgency" that puts future decarbonisation targets At Risk .

Would fracking and North Sea oil bring down bills?

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss said The UK should " unleash" its gas supplies to cut energy bills for households and boost The economy.

She Said The US had cut bills by using Shale gas and that The UK should learn The lessons.

It is a theme she also championed as PM Last Year , when she confirmed an end to The ban on fracking - a controversial technique that involves drilling and using liquids at High Pressure to release Shale gas.

But The Heads of The Climate Change Committee and The National Infrastructure Commission warned at The Time that such measures would not quickly lead to people's bills falling.

In: " Our gas reserves - offshore or from Shale - are too small to impact meaningfully The prices faced by UK consumers. "

And there are particular problems with fracking in The UK, which is considerably more crowded than The US and has higher land prices.

Is The UK The Second biggest contributor of military aid to Ukraine ?

At The Tory Party conference on Sunday, Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: " We have provided billions in military aid (to Ukraine ) - Second only to The contribution of The US. "

The US is by far The largest contributor of arms to Ukraine - to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

The UK gave £2. 3bn ($2. 8bn) billion in 2022, and - taking its total commitments to £4. 6bn ($5. 6bn) since The start of The War .

However, Germany has, which would put it Second to The US, in front of The UK.

Germany provided £1. 7bn ($2. 1bn) in military aid in 2022 and pledged a further £4. 7bn ($5. 7bn) for 2023.

It is possible that Mr Shapps was basing his claim on 2022 military aid alone, but this wasn't made clear in his speech.

We have asked The UK Ministry of Defence to clarify The comments made by Mr Shapps.

The Kiel Institute, a team of researchers which tracks The amount countries have pledged in military aid to Ukraine , also.

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Source of news: bbc.com