On Monday 18 July, Stephen spoke in Parliament about Boris Johnson’s misleading claims on employment figures.
Following the Prime Minister's resignation announcement, there was a debate on a vote of no-confidence in Her Majesty's Government. In the debate, Stephen explained how, since last November, the Prime Minister has claimed 10 times in Parliament that employment levels are now lower than since the start of the pandemic. This is untrue.
In February, the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority wrote to the Prime Minister, challenging this assertion. The latest employment figures show there are 210,000 fewer people in employment than before the pandemic. In March, Stephen asked Boris Johnson if he accepted this correction. The Prime Minister agreed and said he took steps to correct the record. However, he then repeated the misleading claim again in Parliament in April and – to date – has not corrected the record.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Stephen said “democracy does not work if Ministers routinely say things they know to be untrue. Why did they not see through him before?”
You can watch Stephen’s full speech below.