Polly Toynbee was on particularly dramatic form yesterday as she attacked council tax benefit reforms in the Guardian. However those revisiting her scaremongering online today might notice one glaring correction:
“This article was amended on 24 July 2012. The original said households in Haringey would lose £38 per week. That has been corrected to £38 per year”
There is a very big difference between people losing £1,976 a year, as Polly tried to spin, and losing £38 per year, as is actually happening. The percentage increase between the two numbers is 5100%*. Aside from reckless scaremongering and horrendous Guardian subbing, Toynbee’s article dismisses that these reforms will save the taxpayer £480m a year. So it is official – Polly is 5100% wrong.