Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast Stuart Hughes: Boris Johnson facing court over Brexit lies
May 8, 2019
08:25
Boris Johnson is being taken to court over claims he made during the Brexit referendum campaign.
A crowd-funded private prosecution against the Brexiteer is due to begin next week.
The private prosecutor, Martin Ball, has accused Johnson of knowingly lying, when he claimed Britain sends the EU 350 million pounds a week that it could otherwise spend on healthcare.
UK correspondent Stuart Hughes told Kerre McIvor that the claim was widely believed, but was totally false.
"It was pointed out to the VoteLeave campaign at the time."
He says that the real figure was actually half what Johnson claimed.
Despite it being repeatedly debunked, Hughes says that it seems to have stuck in people's consciousness.
"More than two years later, more than 40 per cent of people who saw that figure still thought it was true, even though it was pointed out time and time again that it wasn't."
Ball believes that Johnson and other politicians should be held to account for their lies, Hughes says.
However, it will be up to the courts to determine if Johnson lied or if he simply spun the figures.
A crowd-funded private prosecution against the Brexiteer is due to begin next week.
The private prosecutor, Martin Ball, has accused Johnson of knowingly lying, when he claimed Britain sends the EU 350 million pounds a week that it could otherwise spend on healthcare.
UK correspondent Stuart Hughes told Kerre McIvor that the claim was widely believed, but was totally false.
"It was pointed out to the VoteLeave campaign at the time."
He says that the real figure was actually half what Johnson claimed.
Despite it being repeatedly debunked, Hughes says that it seems to have stuck in people's consciousness.
"More than two years later, more than 40 per cent of people who saw that figure still thought it was true, even though it was pointed out time and time again that it wasn't."
Ball believes that Johnson and other politicians should be held to account for their lies, Hughes says.
However, it will be up to the courts to determine if Johnson lied or if he simply spun the figures.
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