Rishi Sunak has been rapped by the the official statistics watchdog for making incorrect claims about the asylum system.
The prime minister told parliament on December 13, 2022, that the backlog of unresolved cases was “half the size that it was when Labour was in office”.
But Robert Chote, the chairman of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) said this was wrong.
According to Home Office figures, the number of undecided asylum applications was 166,261 at the end of December 2022.
But the number of applications awaiting a decision in June 2010, shortly after Labour left office, was just 18,954.
“This means that during the period from June 2010 to December 2022 there has been a net increase in undecided asylum applications of 147,307, not a halving,” Chote said.
The UKSA also rebuked Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, for making similar misleading claims.
He told MPs on December 14, 2022, that the backlog “was 450,000 when the last Labour government handed over to us”.
Sarah Dines, the minister for safeguarding, also said on the very same day that “over half a million legacy cases had been left by the Labour government”.
The UKSA had been asked to investigate the claims by Labour’s shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock.
In a letter to Kinnock, Chote said: “The statements by Ministers that you asked about do not reflect the position shown by the Home Office’s statistics.”
Kinnock has now written to the prime minister to demand he correct the record.
“If such misleading statements remain on the record uncorrected, this will mislead the public and could amount to a breach of both the official code of practice for statistics,” he said.
“I take you at your word that it has been your intention to lead a government with ‘integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.’
“On that basis, I trust that you had no intention to mislead the House in your statement of December 13.
“Nevertheless, I strongly urge you to lead by example and correct the erroneous use of figures in that statement at your earliest opportunity, and to call on the minister for immigration and the minister for safeguarding to do the same.”