Shadow chief secretary Rachel Reeves says the Tories may be attempting to "deliberately mislead the public" about over statistics and the government's record.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves MP (Labour, Leeds West), has written to Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority over David Cameron’s claims in a Tory party political broadcast that the government was “paying down Britain’s debts”; here is her letter in full:
Dear Andrew,
I am sure you will agree that it is vital that public debate is informed by accurate use of statistics.
However, in a Party Political Broadcast by the Conservative Party last night, the prime minister said:
“We are now halfway through the coalition’s time in government and in two and a half years we have achieved a lot but I know people don’t just want to hear from me, they want to know the facts…
“So though this government has had to make some difficult decisions, we are making progress. We are paying down Britain’s debts.”
As you will be aware, figures from the Office for National Statistics published this week show that the national debt is not being paid down, but is actually rising. Since this government came to office, public sector net debt has risen from £811.3 billion (55.3 per cent of GDP) in the second quarter of 2010, to £1,111.4 billion at the end of December 2012 (70.7 per cent of GDP).
The Office for Budget Responsibility has also forecast that public sector net debt will continue to rise and the government’s target to get it falling by 2015-16 will not be met.
This is not the first time government ministers have made similar claims about the national debt. However, last night’s party political broadcast is the first occasion I am aware of when the prime minister has made such a claim in a scripted broadcast. This suggests that the Conservative Party may be attempting to deliberately mislead the public about these statistics and the government’s record.
I would be grateful if you could bring some clarity to the situation and advise on how we can ensure that in the future debate on the national debt is accurate and based on the facts.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Reeves MP
See also:
• Borrowing is rising after all – January 22nd, 2013
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16 Responses to “Reeves: Tories “may be attempting to deliberately mislead the public” over stats and government’s record”
Newsbot9
You are refusing to pay yes, Tory.
Pension debts in the UK are not excessive, of course.
Keep fighting growth, too. Can’t allow a recovery in your world, your permanent depression is far more useful for crushing the poor and justifying your fiscal contraction (austerity).
And you’re still under the delusion that Labour are left-wing…
Newsbot9
Why are you talking about Labour and the left in the same rant?
uglyfatbloke
Obviously no politician ever lies; not even about about the military value of trident – or the cost of it either – and none of them would ever lie about WMD or going to war or about the true extent of national indebtedness. Similarly only half a dozen or so stole money via the expenses system and no politician would ever take advantage of their position as MPs to get well-paid sinecures in industry or get public sector appointments from their buddies or avoid prosecution because they are important people…Equally none of them would conspire to suppress a report just because it might have adverse effects on their electability and none of them get £300 a day in the Lords as a retainer once they have been chucked out of office by the electorate. None of them would ever sell access to business interests or give a monopoly to a company in exchange for a fat donation and absolutely none of them run scared of the Daily Mail.
Glad we are all agreed on that…….
TomSparc
What I did read of that was complete nonsense.
Ed Balls is not in government. The lying, cheating, stealing, incompetent Tories are. Duh.
mags
how can we get this corrupt government out I despise david Cameron and his cronies