Debunking the claim that migrants will get half of new homes
More or Less
BBC
4.6 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:
The Daily Express claims that ‘Migrants will get half of all new homes’, based on a calculation from the Conservatives. We explain why that’s not what the numbers say, and ask what the Conservatives own record on migration and housing tells us.
Does one in five Welsh pupils leave school functionally illiterate? We take a dive into the world of Welsh education and find the numbers tell a different story - but not an encouraging one.
Accusations are flying about who’s responsible for the UK’s high borrowing costs. Does Liz Truss still cast a shadow over the bond market? Is Labour infighting to blame? Or are we missing the economic wood for the political trees? Duncan Weldon has the answers.
And an answer to a question that literally only one person was asking: how many football pitches would fit inside Wales?
More or Less is the programme that looks at numbers and statistics in news and in life. We’re always looking for questions from listeners - you can contact us on moreorless@bbc.co.uk.
Guests: Ben Brindle - researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford James Riding - Living Markets and Sustainability Editor at Inside Housing Kathy Rastle - Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of London Duncan Weldon - Economist and author of Blood and Treasure Rob Eastaway - mathematician and author of Maths on the Back of an Envelope
Presenter: Tim Harford Series Producer: Tom Colls Reporter: Nathan Gower Producers: Josh McMinn, Lizzy McNeill Editor: Richard Vadon Programme Coordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Engineer: James Beard
Transcript
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| 0:41.3 | I've used the programme budget to buy a new motorhome, which I've assured our editor is |
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| 1:03.1 | This week, we examine the moron premium in the bond market, or in plain language, |
| 1:07.4 | why does it cost the government so much to borrow money and who should we blame? |
| 1:12.8 | In a Welsh double bill, we answer a long-standing question about how many football pitches it would take to cover Wales, and more seriously, what does the evidence |
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