We are so used to Boris Johnson misleading, or as most people would say – lying, to the public that very often the news headlines have stopped reporting it as news.

However, the UK Statistics Authority has warned Boris Johnson once again over his use of statistics after he made a false claim about employment levels in parliament for … the ninth time.

Boris Johnson said at Prime Minister’s Questions on 27 April that there were 500,000 more people in paid employment than before the Covid-19 pandemic. This statistic is untrue.

In fact, there were 588,000 fewer people in employment in the UK compared to two years ago, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.

Boris Johnson made these untrue comments in the House of Commons before the ONS published updated employment stats (yesterday) showing the unemployment rate had fallen marginally between January and March to hit a near 50-year low. However, total employment i.e. the number of people actually working nevertheless remains lower than pre-pandemic levels.

The latest ONS data shows that there were 32.569 million people in employment across the UK in January to March this year, compared to 33.073 million in December 2019 to February 2020.

Sian Jones, interim chair of UKSA, said: “The prime minister should be clearer in his claims around employment now compared to before the pandemic began.

Boris Johnson has previously made eight similar incorrect claims on employment figures at PMQs since November, according to the fact-checking charity Full Fact.

Last month, Full Fact stated – “Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker is expected to decide on whether MPs can refer the Prime Minister to a formal parliamentary investigation over claims that he misled the House of Commons over parties in Downing Street. Full Fact is asking that this investigation does not just focus on Partygate, but examine wider honesty in Parliament, including the Prime Minister’s repeated misuse of employment figures in the House of Commons.”