On Monday, Remainers were all abuzz about a Guardian report that Britons had spent £4 billion stockpiling goods in case of a no-deal Brexit, not least Our Future, Our Choice who cried “Stockpiling. Is. Not. Normal. Does this genuinely need to be said?“. The numbers looked dodgy but now Fullfact have comprehensively rubbished this claim. Is anyone surprised? 

The survey found that 20% of consumers had stockpiled goods, and the average amount spent was £380, which was then multiplied up to the £4 billion figure. There were three main problems with this calculation however; firstly the survey extrapolated the survey findings by the total population, not number of households; secondly the survey only asked people in employment, ignoring the unemployed and retired; and finally there was no evidence in consumer activity to prove this supposed £4 billion uptake. The Guardian’s editorial code says that they “must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information”; the article remains on their website…