The Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England has ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson made misleading claims about child poverty at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), while backing Labour leader Keir Starmer’s assertions.
Researchers for the commissioner, Anne Longfield, concluded that Johnson was wrong to claim there were 400,000 fewer families living in poverty than in 2010, and that it was “generally false” for him to say overall poverty levels were falling. The report found no official statistics to support Johnson’s figures.
In contrast, the fact-checking report found Starmer correct to say 600,000 more children now live in relative poverty compared with 2012, and that the total number of children in poverty is forecast to rise steeply. The latter figure, from the Social Mobility Commission and Institute for Fiscal Studies, projects 5.2 million children in poverty by 2022.
The verdict is a humiliation for Johnson, who had adopted a more bullish approach at PMQs after a series of underwhelming performances. The children’s commissioner commissioned the research after being asked about the PMQs clash by ITV’s Robert Peston.
