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Jeremy Corbyn was rebuked by the statistics watchdog today for a bogus claim that violent crime has doubled under the Conservatives.

In a letter to the Labour leader, Sir David Norgrove, head of the UK Statistics Authority, said official data actually showed “little change” in overall violent crime.

The ticking-off was a setback to Labour on a day when shadow chancellor John McDonnell was accused of exaggerating claims that Labour policies would slash the cost of living for average families by £6,700 a year.

Tom Hamilton, a former Labour policy adviser, tweeted: “Anyone who tells you Labour will put £6,717 in your pocket is lying to you.”

Sir David wrote to Mr Corbyn after a speech at the launch of Labour’s manifesto that claimed “violent crime has doubled under the Conservatives’ austerity programme”.

Warning that “this is a complicated area”, Sir David said that the best guide to overall violent crime was the Crime Survey for England and Wales because it was not distorted by changing recording methods.

This showed “little change in overall violent crime over recent years”.

Mr Corbyn’s claim was based on police records of all “violence against the person” offences, up from 630,000 in 2013-14 to nearly 1.7 million in 2018-19. But Sir David said particular violent crimes were low in volume and not a reliable indicator.

The setback came after Mr McDonnell used a speech to switch Labour’s campaign focus from spending giveaways to saying that families would feel better off from policies such as free childcare, lower fares and free broadband.