An over-excited intern at the LibDem headquarters has been landed with the blame for a statistical howler picked up by the Guido Fawkes blog.

On Sunday the LibDems issued a press release about the rise in business rates since 2005. The figures look very large, but the percentages worked out from them are downright incredible.
 
Julia Goldsworthy, the LibDem local government spokeswomen (pictured)  is quoted in the press release as saying that the figures are outrageous. She’s right there. The LibDems claim business rates in Sutton have gone up from £1,000 to £12,000 a year since 2005, which it calculates as a 44,900 per cent increase. In Hammersmith and Fulham, the rise has been from £2,000 to £17,000, which we are told represents a 22,400 per cent increase.
 
                       
 
No good looking for the press release: it’s gone. And nobody’s holding their hands up. The contact named on the press release says it’s nothing to do with her, according to Guido, and the press office blames an unnamed intern. Worse things happen. But not 22,400 per cent worse.