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Thursday 7 April 2016

The BBC's suspect fact checking


This BBC piece http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35990076 claims to fact check the government's pro EU pamphlet. Here's an extract:

'The claim: Less than 8% of EU exports come to the UK while 44% of UK exports go to the EU.
Reality Check verdict: That's true, although looking in percentage terms makes UK trade look less important to the EU. In cash terms, the UK in 2014 exported £227bn worth of goods and services to other EU countries and imported £288bn from them, which makes the UK look like a much more important customer for the rest of the EU.'

Does that 44% include UK exports that go via Rotterdam and Hamburg, amongst other ports, on their way outside of the EU? If so, why? BBC fact checking seems a little careless.

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