LABOUR CAUGHT FLOODING MILTON KEYNES LETTERBOXES WITH FAKE BAR CHARTS AHEAD OF LOCAL ELECTIONS AND CALLING IT 'ARTWORK'

Milton Keynes Conservatives are exposing a deliberate and systematic campaign of deception, with Labour delivering bar charts across multiple wards in Milton Keynes ahead of crucial local elections that fail to meet any recognised standard of evidence.

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), the UK’s official statistics watchdog, states clearly that bar charts in political leaflets must cite their source, must be drawn to scale, and must not mislead voters about the relative support of different parties. The Chair of the UK Statistics Authority wrote personally to the leaders of all major political parties before the 2024 general election to remind them of exactly this.

In one example in Danesborough Ward, Labour delivered multiple leaflets claiming the ward is a straight fight between Labour and “blue chaos”, complete with a bar chart clearly showing Labour ahead, Reform UK in second and the Conservatives in third. The charts also place the Liberal Democrats and Greens on virtually no support, alongside the claim that “they can’t win here”. This seems to be the case across Milton Keynes.

This is despite the Conservatives winning the Danesborough and Walton Ward in 2024 with 47% of the vote. Labour received 36%. Reform UK did not stand a candidate. When publicly called out on the fake chart, the Labour councillor responsible admitted on Facebook that it is simply "artwork" with "no scale" and "not an academic paper."

Conservative candidate for Danesborough Ward, Johnny Luk, said:

“At a time when trust in politics is already low, it is unacceptable and disappointing for Labour to hand out thousands of graphs in official campaign literature that are clearly designed to mislead voters and cite no credible source. Following a 25-point drop in national polling since the last Milton Keynes local election (YouGov in May 2024 polled Labour on 44% - in March YouGov polled Labour on 19%), Labour appear to be deliberately resorting to creative fiction in a desperate attempt to influence the result.”

He added, “Labour should withdraw these leaflets immediately to avoid misleading residents further. These tactics suggest Labour are running out of ideas, and likely, running out of time too.”