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Rishi Sunak has been chastised by the UK’s statistics watchdog for claiming to have reduced public debt – despite not having done so.

Sir Robert Chote, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), said the prime minister’s assertion that “debt is falling” may have caused “confusion” and “undermined trust in the government’s use of statistics”.

Politics Live: Rishi Sunak faces uncomfortable questions on cost of Rwanda scheme

Reducing debt is one of the five pledges Mr Sunak made to the public at the start of the year, alongside cutting NHS waiting lists and “stopping the boats”.

He claimed “debt is falling” in a video posted on social media after the King’s Speech on 7 November and that “we have indeed reduced debt” at Prime Minister’s Questions on 22 November, the day of the Autumn Statement.

However, Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney questioned the veracity of the claim – pointing to a projection from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that month which showed public sector net debt has risen on every measure.

Number 10 had argued Mr Sunak was referring to a projection that debt would be falling as a proportion of GDP by 2028.

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But responding to Ms Olney’s concerns, Sir Robert said “the average person in the street” would have interpreted the comment to mean “debt was already falling or that the government’s policy decisions had lowered it at fiscal events – neither of which is the case”.

He added: “This has clearly been a source of confusion and may have undermined trust in the government’s use of statistics and quantitative analysis in this area.

“Members of the public cannot be expected to understand the minutiae of public finance statistics and the precise combination of definitional choices that might need to be made for a particular claim to be true.”

Ms Olney accused the prime minister of “reaching for the Boris Johnson playbook” and undermining trust.

She said: “Rishi Sunak knows he has no good story to tell on the UK economy so he has resorted to making one up. The least this no-growth prime minister could do is be honest about it with the British public.

“Instead, he has reached for the Boris Johnson playbook and undermined trust in politics. This is desperate stuff from a desperate prime minister and it is right that he has been called out on it.”

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced five goals which he says the government will accomplish this year.

It comes after Mr Sunak briefed his cabinet this morning on the progress of his five pledges which he made in January.

They are: Halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing national debt, cutting NHS waiting lists and stopping boats from crossing the Channel.

Mr Sunak said successes included halving inflation and reducing small boat crossings by a third, “but that there is still much work to do that will require continued dedication”.

While inflation has halved, critics said that was more to do with Bank of England policy – and the cost of living crisis remains, with the economy flatlining this year.

Read More:
UK economy flatlines but avoids recession this year

Meanwhile, thousands of people have come to the UK in small boats amid chaos over the Rwanda deportation policy.

And while NHS waiting lists fell slightly for the first time this year in October, the appointments backlog is still 7.71 million (down from a record 7.7m the month before), with the NHS bracing for a difficult winter.

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Labour smell dirty tricks over asylum hotel court ruling – but the risks are clear

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Labour smell dirty tricks over asylum hotel court ruling - but the risks are clear

“It’s an interesting moment,” was how one government source described the High Court ruling that will force an Essex hotel to be emptied of asylum seekers within weeks.

That may prove to be the understatement of the summer.

For clues as to why, just take a glance at what the Home Office’s own lawyer told the court on Tuesday.

Granting the injunction “runs the risk of acting as an impetus for further violent protests”, the barrister said – pointing out that similar legal claims by other councils would “aggravate pressures on the asylum estate”.

Right on cue and just hours after the ruling came in, Broxbourne Council – over the border in Hertfordshire – posted online that it was urgently seeking legal advice with a view to taking similar court action.

The risks here are clear.

Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel. Pic: PA
Image:
Police officers ahead of a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel. Pic: PA

Recent figures show just over 30,000 asylum seekers being housed in hotels across the country.

If they start to empty out following a string of court claims, the Home Office will struggle to find alternative options.

After all, they are only in hotels because of a lack of other types of accommodation.

There are several caveats though.

This is just an interim injunction that will be heard in full in the autumn.

So the court could swing back in favour of the hotel chain – and by extension the Home Office.

Read more:
Who says what on asylum hotels?

Protesters in Epping on 8 August. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Protesters in Epping on 8 August. Pic: Reuters

We have been here before

Remember, this isn’t the first legal claim of this kind.

Other councils have tried to leverage the power of the courts to shut down asylum hotels, with varying degrees of success.

In 2022, Ipswich Borough Council failed to get an extension to an interim injunction to prevent migrants being sent to a Novotel in the town.

As in Epping, lawyers argued there had been a change in use under planning rules.

The hotel has been the scene of regular protests. Pic: PA
Image:
The hotel has been the scene of regular protests. Pic: PA

But the judge eventually decided that the legal duty the Home Office has to provide accommodation for asylum seekers was more important.

So there may not be a direct read across from this case to other councils.

Home Office officials are emphasising this injunction was won on the grounds of planning laws rather than national issues such as public order, and as such, each case will be different.

Failing Labour approach or Tory tricks?

But government sources also smell dirty tricks from Epping Council and are suggesting that the Tory-led local authority made the legal claim for political reasons.

Pointing to the presence of several prominent Tory MPs in the Essex area – as well as the threat posed by Reform in the county – the question being posed is why this legal challenge was not brought when asylum seekers first started being sent to the hotel in 2020 during the Conservatives‘ time in government.

Epping Council would no doubt reject that and say recent disorder prompted them to act.

But that won’t stop the Tories and Reform of seizing on this as evidence of a failing approach from Labour.

So there are political risks for the government, yes, but it’s the practicalities that could flow from this ruling that pose the bigger danger.

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Top Fed official: Staff should be allowed to hold a little crypto

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Top Fed official: Staff should be allowed to hold a little crypto

Top Fed official: Staff should be allowed to hold a little crypto

Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision, Michelle Bowman, says the central bank should roll back its restrictions that ban staff from buying crypto.

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SEC Chair Atkins: There are very few tokens that are securities

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SEC Chair Atkins: There are very few tokens that are securities

SEC Chair Atkins: There are very few tokens that are securities

Paul Atkins spoke at Wyoming Blockchain Symposium on the SEC’s Project Crypto, its relationship with the Trump administration, and its plans on handling digital asset regulations.

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