MP slams 'wholly inaccurate' benefits figures

By Steve Hayes 14/12 Updated: 14/12 10:36

MP NADHIM Zahawi has rubbished figures reported in a national newspaper which suggested the number of benefits claimaints in Stratford district had more than doubled.

Mr Zahawi has written to the editor of the The Times after it wrongly reported the figures in a recent story about a national surge in claimants since the coalition Government took over in May 2010.

It highlighted the district as having one of the highest rises in claimants with a staggering 150 per cent increase and suggested there were now some 33,000 claimants in the district.

But after the Observer highlighted the rather unusual figures to Mr Zahawi his researchers discovered a typo had caused the entire national chart to be incorrect.

And there had actually been a four per cent fall in the number of claimants in Stratford district from 6,120 to 5,860 over the period reported.

Mr Zahawi wrote a letter to the editor of The Times which was included in a subsequent edition, but a section of it which referred to the whole chart being incorrect was omitted.

And Mr Zahawi has now co-ordinated a joint letter with 19 other MPs in other areas affected demanding a correction.

A spokesperson for Mr Zahawi confirmed to us they had spoken to the journalist responsible and a mistake had caused all figures used in the full-page graphic to be incorrect.

In his letter Mr Zahawi said: "“The Times’ figures were wholly inaccurate and gave the wrong impression of the progress we are making, not just here in Stratford but also in the country at large. It’s therefore vital that they correct the record.

"In the graphic, Stratford is highlighted as having 33,790 benefit claimants, a claimed increase of 156.4 per cent since May 2010. In reality Stratford has seen a fall in claimant numbers from 6,120 to 5,860, a 4.2 per cent fall.

"Nationally, and despite the tough economic situation we find ourselves in, benefit claimants fell by in the first year of this government, with the largest increase in any local authority area being just 4 per cent, not the 181.7 per cent claimed."