Why spin something that’s so easy to check?

I’ve just heard cabinet minister Alistair Darling talking about the Scottish results on Radio 4’s Today Programme and at least six times he claimed that Labour and the SNP ended up with the same number of votes. If that’s the line that the spinners are taking then it’s a lie and, I would suggest very dangerous.

Fact: The SNP got 664,227 (32.9%) of the votes in the constituency section on Thursday and 633,401 (31%) on the regional list.

Fact: Labour got 648,374 (32.2%) of the votes in the constituency section on Thursday and 595,415 (29.2%) on the regional list.

He was not challenged on the programme about the numbers.

It annoys me intensely when politicians of all parties tell porkies about things which are so simple to check and I would suggest that this spin on what happened is highly dangerous. In my book Darling’s reputation has moved down a couple of notches.

Maybe he’s getting in training to be Brown’s successor as Chancellor which he is second favourite in the betting to get!

Mike Smithson