Boris Johnson has been rapped by the statistics watchdog for using a “selective” and “misleading” claim that he has already been told is untrue.
The Prime Minister boasted at Wednesday’s PMQs that “there are 430,000 more [people] in employment now than there were before the pandemic.”
But the UK Statistics Authority said the Tory leader was only counting people on payrolls.
Once the self-employed and off-payroll workers are included, the real total is 600,000 fewer than before the pandemic.
Boris Johnson has repeatedly made similar claims despite the UKSA already asking him not to do so on February 1.
Fact-checking charity Full Fact said it was the seventh time he had made the claim in the Commons.
Chief executive Will Moy said: “It is inexcusable for a Prime Minister to repeatedly make false claims in Parliament and fail to correct the record.
“We first fact checked this claim in November 2021. The Office for Statistics Regulation wrote to Downing Street to challenge the Prime Minister’s ‘disappointing’ use of this incorrect claim four weeks ago.
“The Prime Minister’s failure to correct the record is damaging to public trust. It is time for MPs of all parties to step in and enforce their own rules.”
UKSA chair Sir David Norgrove wrote again to Mr Johnson on Thursday, saying “it is wrong to claim that there are now more people in work than before the pandemic began”.
He added: “If, as seems to be the case, your statement referred only to the increase in the number of people on payrolls, it would be a selective use of data that is likely to give a misleading impression of trends in the labour market unless that distinction is carefully explained.”
Downing Street failed to correct the false claim today, despite saying this week that the Prime Minister “corrects the record when appropriate”.
Mr Johnson made a rare correction to the Parliamentary record on Wednesday after wrongly saying Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was facing Russian sanctions.
Asked if he would now correct his claim about jobs, the PM’s deputy official spokesman said: “I haven’t seen that specific letter”.
He added: “The PM has spoken about employment levels in the UK on a number of occasions and is extremely proud of the work this government has done to get people back into work.”
