Hunt reprimanded over wrongly implying UK public debt forecast to fall

Exclusive: Statistics watchdog warns chancellor over clarity after he conflates fall in debt with a less steep rise than first predicted

• UK politics live – latest updates

The official statistics watchdog has reprimanded the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, after he claimed public debt levels would fall in the coming years, when in fact they are simply forecast to rise less steeply than previously expected.

The head of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), Sir Robert Chote, is writing to Hunt and the Treasury to warn them about accuracy after a complaint by Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle over a tweet the chancellor sent on 25 April.