The BBC’s stats man called out the government over their nurses pay rise claims and more of this sort of thing, please

John Plunkett. Updated December 16th, 2022

Explaining why the government couldn’t possibly countenance giving nurses anything like the pay rise they are asking for (and deserve), health minister Maria Caulfield shared a few statistics with anyone who would listen.

Specifically, she said it would cost the government £700m for every 1% increase they gave to nurses.

You might remember Sky News’s Niall Patterson had a rather fabulous response to that yesterday.

Maria Caulfield(Health Minister) – For every 1% increase in pay we have to find £700m, & there’s only 3 ways to find that money…borrow or put taxes up…

Niall Paterson – Or not waste £30b on useless PPE#KayBurley #BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/IJIx7Yw7zn

— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) December 15, 2022

And this, from the BBC’s head of statistics Robert Cuffe, took a different approach but was no less satisfying for it.

Yesterday Tory minister Maria Caulfield said it would cost the govt £700m for every 1% pay increase given to nurses.

BBC Breakfast this morning shows that Caulfield was either mistaken, deliberately misleading viewers or out and out lying. pic.twitter.com/sb5SVSoP5M

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) December 16, 2022

More of this sort of thing, please.

And just in case you were after a little bit more context.

Govt minister Maria Caulfield’s claim that a 1% pay rise would cost £700m is way off for nurses’ pay. pic.twitter.com/vMvZZ7D32g

— Robert Cuffe (@robertcuffe) December 15, 2022

Follow @robertcuffe on Twitter here!

Source Twitter @SaulStaniforth