Miliband Demands Cameron Corrects Statistics

The leader of the Labour Party has written to the Prime Minister demanding he returns to the House of Commons to correct "inaccurate statistics" that the Prime Minister used at PMQs on Wednesday.

David Cameron came under attack from Ed Miliband at Prime Ministers' Questions over recent news on the economy, such as job losses, increasing inflation and worries over the Greek economy.

Speaking at PMQs, the Prime Minister was forced to admit the figures were "disappointing" and said he was doing "everything I can" to get people back into work.

However, in a letter to Mr Cameron on Thursday evening, the Labour Leader said: "In response to me at Prime Minister’s Questions, you said that 'since the election there are 500,000 more jobs in the private sector. There are more people—300,000 more people—in work than there were a year ago.' This answer is inaccurate."

Mr Miliband said that between June 2010 and June 2011 the Office of National Statistics found that private sector employment increased by only 264,000 and that net employment increased by just 24,000.

"The only way it is possible to claim 500,000 extra private sector jobs is by including jobs created between 1 April and 30 June 2010 – but of course this includes time when Labour was still in office, which is not “since the election” at all."

The letter continued: "You also said, after I correctly pointed out that the UK has grown more slowly in the last year than any other EU country apart from Portugal and Romania, that 'this year, Britain is growing faster than America'

"In fact, the UK has grown by 0.7% over the last year to the end of quarter two, the latest period for which figures are available, while the USA grew by 1.5% over the same period."

Mr Miliband said that everyone in public life "had a responsibility to ensure we rebuild and maintain trust in politics and politicians" and that ensuring accuracy in answers given in the House of Commons was "central to that" and a responsibility underlined in the Ministerial Code.

"Furthermore, the British people will want to be assured that the decisions you take, which have such profound consequences for families and young people, are being based on properly researched data and empirical evidence."

(DW/GK)