Brexit Series: Boris Johnson rebuked by UK statistics chief over false figure

Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson created quite a furor and controversies with his cheerful Brexit article in the UK Telegraph. Here are his key 9 points from that elaborated article,

• Britain will take back control of £350 million a week
• The UK will not pay to access the EU single market
• The door will not be slammed on migrants, instead, a system will be imposed that suits the UK
• Taxes will be reformed with removal of tampon tax
• Britain will be able to become a champion of free trade
• Brexit will be a success
• Old friendship with commonwealth countries will be renewed
•  Foreigners could be prevented from buying homes in Britain
• Britain  should use low-interest rates to borrow more to pay for infrastructures it deserved

After this article was published in the paper, Mr. Johnson received rebuke from the UK statics chief David Norgrove, who wrote,

“Dear Foreign Secretary,

I am surprised and disappointed that you have chosen to repeat the figure of £350m per week in connection with the amount that might be available for extra public spending when we leave the European Union.

This confuses gross and net contributions (1). It also assumes that payments made currently to the UK by the EU, including for example for the support of agriculture and scientific research, will not be paid by the UK government when we leave.

It is a clear misuse of official statistics.

Yours Sincerely

Sir David Norgrove

1) For further detail on official statistics relating to the UK’s financial contributions to the EU, see Sir Andrew Dilnot’s letter of April 2016 to the Rt Hon Norman Lamb MP regarding UK contributions to the EU.”

This letter has created a quite a political upheaval in the UK as many of Mr. Johnson’s colleagues accusing him of using for false statistics for personal gains and putting his own interest ahead of the country’s.