Rishi Sunak standing in front of Houses of Parliament

Letter: Virtual politics or factual fallacies? Unpacking Prime Minister Sunak’s NHS claims

News OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.

This from Hans Bromwich, Cowes. Ed


During Prime Ministers Questions on the 19th April Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed that there are 500 more dentists working in the NHS than last year.

MP Mary Kelly Foy and Liberal Democrat Leader Sir Ed Davey raised a point of order immediately after PMQ’s on Tuesday 23rd May asking for the record to be corrected saying that since January the PM had on seven occasions claimed that there are more dentists working in the NHS, however a Freedom of Information request obtained by the British Dental Association revealed that the number of dentists delivering NHS work had actually fallen by 695 compared to the previous year, and that there are now over 1,100 fewer dentists undertaking NHS work than before the pandemic.

Other misleading and totally false claims
Opposition Parties claim Rishi Sunak over recent weeks has made numerous other misleading and totally false claims to MPs in Parliament.

Does this really matter, or is it simply the cut a thrust of todays politics from a Government in crisis unable to deliver on numerous fronts? When you have a Government that repeatedly lies to its people with total impunity, where does that leave our country?

Are we to assume all politicians are dishonest, or just those holding the highest office in our Conservative Government? And how does this all square with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge that, “integrity, professionalism and accountability will be upheld at every level”? 

Have we moved into the realm of ‘virtual politics’?
Perhaps in today’s high-tech virtual world we have moved into the realm of ‘virtual politics’, where the name of the game is to simply tell people what they desperately want to hear, regardless of whether, or not, it’s true.

Whether this is a credible and clever pre-election strategy, or just one last desperate roll of the dice, one thing is for sure, we are living through interesting times.


Image: communitiesuk under CC BY 2.0

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chausettes
28, May 2023 12:54 pm

I think this point is extremely well articulated. It would be nice if our local MP could have a little backbone and take Rishi Sunak to task over this, rather than just have the opposition MPs or even Hans do it for us. I’m tired of having an MP claim he represents our Island interests, but fail to hold his own leader to a high standard of… Read more »

elemental
Reply to  chausettes
29, May 2023 9:30 am

Seeley, like all his MP ilk, sitting safely within a slew of seats, perceived & frequently proven as being true blue tory safe havens, consistently votes AGAINST every single policy that might improve life for their constituents:

Including risking a major health incident by allowing raw sewage into close proximity with people, by voting against Water Companies being challenged.

henry
28, May 2023 3:32 pm

It’s not difficult.

I need a government I can believe in.

I also need a Member of Parliament I can believe in.

Very sadly I feel I have neither.

Angela Hewitt
29, May 2023 8:25 am

The point is all politicians are terrifed of telling the untennable truth. They do not have to lie about the figures us ordinary citizens already know… 1) We have a faied NHS 2) Failed transport system 3) Failed police service 4) failed economy 5) failed adult care service 6) failed education service 7) failed brexit policy Part of thsi falure is due to Billionairs, and mega companies… Read more »

Jenny Smart
Reply to  Angela Hewitt
29, May 2023 11:55 am

Did you by any chance read Sunday Times rich list a couple of weeks ago? The number of £billionaires in the UK, not £millionaires, but £billionaires exceeded 100.

It is simply obscene when we have some many people struggling and wondering whether to heat or eat.

Rupert Besley
29, May 2023 9:10 am

The letter from Hans Bromwich is spot-on and very well put. It goes right to the heart of the matter in a world where facts, truth, expertise and evidence-based thinking have gone out of the window, their place taken by whatever people like to think. Government in the hands of those peddling such fantasies (the likes of Putin, Trump, Johnson and all the rest) has terrible consequences… Read more »

VentnorLad
29, May 2023 9:41 am

We all know that the number of working dentists is in decline. That Sunak and his government are liars without shame is no surprise. What is a shock is that citizens will still vote for these malign, self-serving, fundamentally dishonest chancers. Finding an NHS dentist on the Island is even more difficult than getting a GP appointment. But what few people realise is that the number of… Read more »

elemental
29, May 2023 9:58 am

As a regular viewer of PMQ’s, I forget the number of times Ministers have stood up & quoted utter fabrications as fact, that BBC should perhaos install an instant fact-checker & stream it simultaneously with the fatuous nonsense? In the 2017 GE, Conners HQ was reported as having an 85% truth deficit in advertising it was putting out on Social Media, with the Brexit-based 2019 GE, worse.… Read more »

vitabrevis
29, May 2023 10:09 am

You have to have some sympathy for Sunak. He was chosen as leader because he was the only one left with even a shred of public credibility. He inherited a web of outright lies and is gradually letting cats out of the bag (most recently Barclay was set up to admit that they are not, in fact, building 40 new hospitals AND refurbing a further 20 nor… Read more »

greenfiremouse
29, May 2023 3:42 pm

In this context, I would like to remind readers of Lix Truss’s disastrous “mini budget” that cost us tens of billons of Pounds, which could currently be used instead of austerity cuts to services. Following that outrageous disgrace, a Government that pledges “integrity, professionalism and accountability […] at every level” should have automatically called a General Election at that point. However, they carried on under Rishi Sunak… Read more »

Snowwolf1
30, May 2023 11:14 am

Unfortunately due to conservatives and especially Truss I don’t envy any party being able to sort this country out. Like previous entries have stated we need someone in charge who is above all honest with us, acceptance of situation maybe easier to tolerate than being fed a pack of lies or unbelievable information. If there have been than many NHS dentists then he should back it up… Read more »

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