03 May 2023 , 13:07
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Maths-obsessed Rishi Sunak has been humiliated after citing the wrong figures during Prime Minister's Questions.
Today, Labour MP Stephen Timms forced the Prime Minister admit to MPs that there were not record numbers of people in employment - as he claimed during last week's PMQs.
Mr Timms pointed out the figure "still less than it was just before the pandemic - 122,792 less - according to the latest official figures".
He warned the PM against "slipping into the bad ways of his predecessor" Boris Johnson, who is being investigated by MPs over whether he lied to Parliament about Partygate.
Mr Sunak admitted "that clarification has already been made" in Parliament's records - and tried to claim it as a win by saying there were "near-record" numbers of people in work.
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Shadow Employment Minister Alison McGovern took him to task on Twitter, saying: "Maybe Rishi Sunak should 'get his numbers right' because this is starting to look like a pattern - from the guy who loves Maths."
In further embarrassment for the PM, fact-checking website Full Fact debunked two more claims Mr Sunak made at today's PMQs.
Rishi Sunak was warned not to become like Boris Johnson, who is currently investigation over lying to parliament about what he knew about Partygate (AFP via Getty Images)Researchers said the PM's claim there are now a “record number” of police officers does not "tell the full story about what’s happening with police officer recruitment".
The increase in additional officers comes after Tories substantially cut numbers - plus Full Fact said the figures don’t reflect that the number of officers has not kept up with population growth.
It challenged Mr Sunak's claim there "are now more NHS dentists across the UK" as the total number of NHS dentists is lower than before the pandemic.
The PM may have been referring to the number of dentists who did "some" work in the NHS - and weren't full-time - but No10 did not respond to Full Fact when they asked for clarification.
Last month, Ms McGovern raised a point of order in the Commons highlighting another of Mr Sunak's errors: "Just now the Prime Minister, in response to a question about his pretence that living standards are getting better in this country, replied that he is halving inflation on the very day that we have found out that inflation is in fact rising.
Full Fact said the PM's figures relating to an increase in dentists and police officers did not tell the full story"So can I ask you, Mr Speaker... could I ask you how the Prime Minister could correct the record?"
The Mirror also revealed Mr Sunak was among Tory ministers who used misleading figures in Parliament about asylum backlogs.
The UK Statistics Authority wrote to the government after the PM claimed in December that the current backlog is half what it was when Labour was in office.
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Sir Robert Chote, who heads the authority, said remarks by the Prime Minister and Tory frontbenchers Sarah Dines and Robert Jenrick "do not reflect" Home Office figures.
He pointed out that the current backlog is currently over 166,000 - compared to under 20,000 when Labour left office, according to the government's own data.
It followed a complaint by Labour shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock, who has accused the Tories of trying to "deflect attention away from their own failures".
Mr Sunak pledged earlier this year to make children learn maths until they are 18.
The plans were criticised after he was forced to admit there are currently not enough specialist teachers to fulfil his promise.
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