When £350m for the NHS isn't £350m for the NHS

UK Statistics Authority has ruled the Vote Leave campaign's claim that the UK sends £350m to the EU each week is "potentially misleading". Credit: Peter Byrne/PA

For weeks now the campaign group Vote Leave has been using the figure of £350 million.

It's the amount of money Leave campaigners claim the UK sends to the EU each week.

They used it at their official launch in Manchester last Friday: "Let's give our NHS the £350 million the EU takes every week."

And the figure appears often on their website.

Today the UK Statistics Authority has ruled the claim is "potentially misleading".

It says the claim is based on the UK's gross contributions to the European Union - not our net contributions.

You may argue that the Vote Leave campaign literature should say instead: "Let's give our NHS the £190 million the EU takes each week". Credit: Andrew Milligan/PA

As Sir Andrew Dilnot who chairs the UK Statistics Authority explains: the UK paid £19.1 billion to the EU in 2014 - which does indeed work out at around £365 million per week.

But because of the UK rebate (the Margaret Thatcher one) we pay a lot less: £14.7 billion per year or £285 million per week.

And then the EU pays us money in the form of EU-funded projects so our next contribution, says the statistics chief, is actually £9.9 billion for the year or £190 million per week.

So you may argue that the Vote Leave campaign literature should say instead: "Let's give our NHS the £190 million the EU takes each week".

Now for a lot of people, that is still a lot of money.

It is still money we could spend on our own priorities rather than the EU's ones.

And it may still be reason enough for many to want to vote to leave the EU.

That said, the £9.9 billion per year should also be seen in the context of total government spending of around £760 billion per year.

But we do know tonight what it is not: it is not £350 million per week.