Rishi Sunak standing in front of Houses of Parliament

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

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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.


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