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The ITV Leaders' Debate, fact-checked

The team of fact-checkers from Full Fact were with ITV News to debunk and analyse the leaders' claims during the ITV Leaders' Debate on Thursday.

A number of topics were debated, including grammar schools, the deficit, housing benefit and foreign aid.

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Fact-checked: UK debt has 'increased by £555 billion' under Conservatives

The Conservative economic plan was meant to eliminate the deficit in five years, but now we’re told it will take two decades, according to Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood.

She also claimed the UK’s debt has increased by £555 billion since the Tories came to power.

The government set deficit targets in 2010 (which it didn’t meet) and in 2015 (which it abandoned), Full Fact explain.

As a result, UK government debt has continued to rise.

We haven’t immediately been able to replicate Ms Wood’s exact figure, but it’s in the right ballpark.

Even adjusted for inflation, public sector net debt rose £450 billion between 2010/11 and 2015/16, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

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