UK Statistics Authority comment on Cameron's deficit reduction claims

 "In this parliament we will have made £100 billion of savings while cutting income tax by £10.5 billion. In the next parliament we plan to make £25 billion of savings while making £7.2 billion in income tax cuts." - David Cameron, The Times, 30 October

We've previously covered how these figures were reached.

The Chair of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Andrew Dilnot has now commented on their use in response to a letter from Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie.

In his letter, Sir Andrew says that "The figures for 'savings' during this Parliament and the next Parliament are drawn from different sources, are derived in different ways, and so are not directly comparable.".

He then went on to state that "I also note that much of the financial year 2015-16 falls in the first year of the next parliament so a proportion of the £100 billion figure does not relate to the current Parliament. You are also correct to point out that the statement highlights the estimates of changes in income tax revenue and not the changes in total revenue from all revenue streams."