Fact check: Solar panels on farmland and London’s white population

This round-up of claims has been compiled by Full Fact, the UK’s independent fact checking charity which works to give people access to reliable information they can trust.Read MoreSolar panels don’t currently occupy ‘thousands of square miles’ of UK farmlandAt Reform UK’s party conference earlier this month, the party’s chair Lee Anderson MP said in a Q&A session: “What we don’t want to see on farmers’ land is solar panels up and down the country. There’s literally thousands of square miles on farmland.”This figure is not correct, and in fact it’s a substantial overstatement. Most land used for solar farms was previously agricultural land, but the total area of land estimated to be covered by them is much less than “thousands of square miles”.In September 2024, ground-mounted solar panels covered “an estimated 21,200 hectares (52,000 acres)” or “around 0.1 per cent of the total land area of the UK”, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).21,200 hectares is equivalent to approximately 81.9 square miles, or about 0.1% of the total UK land area of 24,438,000 hectares.The DESNZ told Full Fact this remains its latest estimate.Last year researchers at Lancaster University produced a slightly lower estimate of up to 17,364 hectares, or 67 square miles. They estimated that of this, around 10,118 hectares (39 square miles) may have previously been arable or horticulture land.We contacted Mr Anderson for comment.The amount of land used for solar is expected to increase in the coming years. The government’s UK Solar Roadmap sets out that “up to 0.4% of total UK land” could be required for solar by 2030, while other projections put potential land use as even higher. But even the largest future estimates we’ve seen are less than the “thousands of square miles” referred to by Mr Anderson.London’s white population has not ‘plummeted to 34%’Posts shared on social media have claimed that the white population in London has dropped to 34%. But that isn’t correct, according to the latest census data.That data, which was recorded in 2021, shows that at the time 53.8%, not 34%, of people in London identified as white.This includes 36.8% who identified as “White: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or British”, plus a further 17% recorded as “White: Other”, which includes those who said they were white Irish, Gypsy or Irish Traveller, Roma or any other white background.We’ve not found any more recent data reliably recording the ethnicity of London’s population, and no other credible evidence to support the 34% claim.