THE BBC has issued a correction after a false claim made by Nigel Farage during his leader’s interview.
The Reform UK party leader was taking part in a Panorama interview with Nick Robinson when he was shown polling from Savanta.
The discussion on the Savanta poll was Robinson’s first question of the night, and focused on whether Farage would be happy to see the scale of Labour majority and Tory wipeout which it suggested.
However, Farage claimed the Savanta survey was out of date, saying the fieldwork had been done “before, before I was in the race”.
But the Reform leader had declared he would stand in Clacton on June 3, four days before the fieldwork for the Savanta survey had even begun.
Farage’s claims were not challenged on air during the broadcast on June 21.
However, in a statement posted to the BBC website, the broadcaster has now corrected Farage’s claims.
The BBC said: “When asked about the latest polling data on Reform UK, the party’s leader Nigel Farage suggested the MRP survey conducted by Savanta could be out of date because the fieldwork started before he declared he would stand in the election on June 3.
“To be clear the fieldwork for this particular survey took place after that time between June 7 and 18.”
Three opinion polls have been published in the past two days, all of which show Labour sustaining a large lead over the Conservatives – but put Reform either behind or slightly in front of the Tories.
A poll by More in Common, carried out online from June 21-23 among 2046 adults in Britain, gives Labour a 16-percentage point lead.
The figures are Labour 41%, Conservative 25%, Reform 15%, Liberal Democrats 10%, Green 5%, SNP 2% and other parties 2%.
The latest poll by Redfield & Wilton, carried out online from June 21-24 among 10,000 adults in Britain, puts Labour 23 points in front of Reform and 24 points ahead of the Tories.
The figures are Labour 42%, Reform 19%, Conservative 18%, Lib Dems 12%, Green 6%, SNP 3% and other parties 2%.
Finally, a poll by Deltapoll, carried out online from June 21-24 among 1568 adults in Britain, has Labour 24 points ahead of the Tories.
The figures are Labour 43%, Conservative 19%, Reform 15%, Lib Dems 13%, Green 5%, SNP 2%, Plaid Cymru 1% and other parties 1%.
An average of all polls with survey work completed during the seven days to June 25 puts Labour on 41%, 21 points ahead of the Conservatives on 20%, followed by Reform on 17%, the Lib Dems on 11% and the Greens on 6%.
