FACT CHECK

“All economic statistics involve sampling and estimates. But when the UK Statistics Authority designate figures as ‘National Statistics’ that’s hugely significant. This is a kite mark showing they meet international statistical standards. Anybody who says these figures are ‘easily rigged’ or ‘nonsense data’ frankly doesn’t deserve to be taken seriously.”

Professor Angus Armstrong, Director of Macroeconomics at the National Institute of Economic and Social

Research