Sunak’s Controversial Asylum Backlog Claim ‘May Affect Public Trust’: Watchdog

A UK statistics watchdog has warned that a claim by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on “clearing” the asylum backlog may have misled the public and affected its trust in the government. Ministers and advisers need to “think carefully about how a reasonable person would interpret” quantitative claims, the chair of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), Sir Robert Chote, cautioned on Jan. 18. Sir Robert’s warning comes after Alistair Carmichael MP lodged a complaint about Mr. Sunak’s claim that ministers had cleared the asylum backlog. Mr. Sunak posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Jan. 2: “I said that this government would clear the backlog of asylum decisions by the end of 2023. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”...