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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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More or Less: The UK’s Foreign Secretary Gets a Factcheck

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The UK’s Foreign Secretary gets a factcheck

28/04/2017 GMT

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Gets a Factcheck

BBC World Service - More or Less, The UK’s Foreign Secretary Gets a Factcheck

In an interview, Boris Johnson mentioned a few statistics that turned out to be untrue

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson went on the Today programme this week, and in a wide-ranging interview he mentioned a few statistics that leapt out as being untrue.

The British prime minister surprised the country by calling a General Election for 8 June. This week UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson went on the Today programme and in a wide-ranging interview, he mentioned a few statistics that leapt out as being untrue. Two of these we have explored on the programme previously – the £350 million figure so widely mentioned in the UK Referendum, and the idea that London is one of the biggest French cities.

The UK’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said recently that living standards are falling. This was one of the points he made in response to Theresa May's announcement of a snap General Election. It is not the first time he has made this claim and so we decided to check it out. Tim Harford finds out from senior economist Jonathan Cribb at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, that there have been some interesting twists and turns to living standards.

(Photo: Foreign secretary Boris Johnson arrives for a cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street. Credit: Getty Images)

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