Thread by @JolyonMaugham

The Report says: "We forecast that under current policy plans (i.e. the Conservative package) child poverty *will* rise."

The Press Release says: "Child poverty *is set to* continue rising under the Conservative Party’s... plans."

Neither says "could rise".

The BBC article gives no source for the words - could rise - which the headline puts in quotation marks. But it does repeat the misrepresentation about what the Report concludes.

Of course, the Report *forecasts* child poverty will rise further under the Tories and uses that language, ie: "We forecast that under current policy plans (i.e. essentially the Conservative package) child poverty is expected to rise." But it forecasts it *will* not *might* rise.

This all feels like another BBC editorial decision that has the effect of blunting a rather sharp criticism of the Tories, i.e., that their plans mean that over a third of children are forecast to live in poverty by 2023-24 .

Resolution Foundation Press Release: resolutionfoundation.org/press-releases…

Resolution Foundation Report: resolutionfoundation.org/publications/t…

BBC Article: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-505542…

5.30 am - the BBC invents a quote that child poverty only "could rise" under the Tories and uses it in their article, on their twitter, and as their headline.

9.30 am - the BBC tells the truth. The Resolution Foundation have said that child poverty "will rise" under the Tories.

A friend writes to me privately to say - "this is sloppy, at best." But all the errors the BBC makes seem to help the Government - i.e. exactly what you would expect of a State Broadcaster - and you are forced to become increasingly credulous to treat the BBC as merely "sloppy."