Original story published 20 May (further updates based on newer IPSO rulings below): The Express website has been found to have published “significantly” inaccurate or misleading headlines by the UK’s main press regulator six times in the past three months.
The complaints all came from the same person, a man named Alan Williams-Key, and were investigated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).
Almost all the articles in question were published in December, with one coming slightly earlier in October.
Most of the articles related to Chancellor Rachel Reeves including her so-called “tax raids” and the alleged impact of her first Budget on businesses and holidaymakers.
The first to be ruled on by IPSO was found to be inaccurate in both the headline and the text because they claimed that “millions” of people faced an £8,000 “tax raid” due to a combination of Labour’s plan to introduce VAT on private school fees and council tax rises. However in reality fewer than 500,000 families would be affected by the private school fee changes.
The Express attributed the mistake to human error but IPSO criticised the fact the publication “had not taken steps to verify the number of families in the UK with one child attending private school” and described it as a “significant” error.
The second IPSO ruling related to the article published in October which claimed Reeves “clobbers cattle class air travel with huge holiday tax hike”.
The article was found to have been based on the misinterpretation of a comment about air passenger duty from the chief executive of Airlines UK, who said: “Even in economy class, APD will add nearly £200 to the cost of your tickets, even before the impact of today’s Budget.”
IPSO’s complaints committee “considered this made clear APD made up nearly £200 to existing economy B and B tickets prior to the budget announcement”. But the Express reported that APD rises announced in the Budget “will add nearly £200 to the cost of economy tickets to New York or Dubai”.
It was inaccurate to link the £200 “hike” to the Budget, IPSO said, adding that the apparent misunderstanding had also led to a misleading headline.
Next was an article relating to Labour’s planned inheritance tax changes for farmers, headlined: “Warning to farmers at risk of 400% tax ‘sting’ trying to dodge inheritance raid.”
IPSO found that this “tax sting” would only apply in very specific circumstances, meaning the article was misleading as “it gave the impression that all farmers who were ‘anticipated to give their assets to their children while they’re still alive […] could incur a steep capital gains tax bill’ of approximately 400% more than they would have otherwise paid”.
IPSO added: “The article was misleading on a point of national debate: the tax which must be paid when land is passed to family members on an individual’s death. The committee also noted the importance of reporting on matters related to probate and inheritance in an accurate manner, given that misleading information may influence readers in making decisions regarding their own tax affairs.”
Reeves’s Budget came up again in an article claiming the boss of Poundland blamed it for “a £640m hit and falling sales”. In fact Stephan Borchert, chief executive of Poundland parent company Pepco, only cited the recent Budget for resulting in a “higher cost outlook in the UK” ahead.
The headline and text were further inaccurate because Poundland had reported a loss of £457m, not £640m, for the year to 30 September 2024. The Express blamed both inaccuracies on human error.
Finally, two rulings published by IPSO last week related to two Express headlines that did not support article text.
One, claiming Reeves “sends mortgage rates soaring to highest in 18 months after Labour budget”, was inaccurate because five-year fixed-term mortgage rates had been higher in June than they were in December, the month of publication, IPSO said. It also noted that the article contradicted the headline by reporting that at the start of December the five-year mortgage rate “had leapt up 0.19 percentage points to 5.28%” while “at the start of January this year [2024] the average five-year fixed rate was 5.55%”.
However, the article did accurately report that between November and December, average interest rates on a five-year fixed mortgage had “recorded the biggest month-on-month jump seen since August 2023”.
The sixth ruling related specifically to a headline written for the homepage: “Households will get £450 towards heating costs this winter.” However, the actual article reported on schemes to help people pay their energy bills and did not refer to any schemes that would provide £450 towards heating.
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This means the Express has already almost equalled its total of complaints upheld by IPSO in the entirety of 2024. According to IPSO, it published six fully upheld rulings against the Express website in 2024 with one partially upheld, while there was one fully upheld against the Daily Express.
Reach declined to comment for this story.
Since September the Express has appointed a new editor and leadership team and merged the daily, Sunday and digital news teams.
[Read more: How Express editor Tom Hunt plans to set title up for next 125 years]
Separately two similar articles published by Birmingham Live, a regional newsbrand also owned by Reach, were the subject of an upheld IPSO ruling last month due to “actively misleading” headlines.
IPSO said both the headlines in both articles were corrected in the main text. They concerned free bus passes for state pensioners and the future of triple lock pensions.
Update 31 July: IPSO has made a seventh ruling this year of an Editors’ Code breach by the Express website, following complaints made by the same person in relation to articles about Government economic policies.
IPSO said a January article headlined “Rachel Reeves has ‘made one huge mistake’ – and ‘now we have the proof’” was misleading because forecasted figures were presented as definitive proof. The forecasts were also based on data from before the general election in which Labour took power.
Update 7 August: IPSO has published a further ruling against the Express website after complaints made by Williams-Key.
One was over a February article headlined: “Half of farmers consider quitting industry after Rachel Reeves’ inheritance raid”, which IPSO said was misleading because the survey cited in the story did not say inheritance tax concerns were one of the reasons farmers were thinking about leading the sector.
The Express had argued the story contained a quote from the director at the Countryside Alliance that supported its position but IPSO said this still did not support the headline’s link between farmers thinking about leaving and the “inheritance raid”.
“While the publication had said that the headline was chronologically accurate, the Committee considered that it was still misleading,” IPSO said, adding that this was “significant” because concerns in the farming industry around inheritance tax had led to protests.
A second new ruling found no breach of the Editors’ Code. An article headlined “Millions see state pension shrink in April as triple lock won’t apply – check if you lose” was “sufficiently clear” about the maths, IPSO’s complaints committee said.
Update 10 October: IPSO has upheld another ruling against the Express website as a story about energy bills was found to be “significantly misleading”.
The headline for the 13 February story, complained about again by Williams-Key, was: “Octopus Energy customers given £676 after daily charge ditched.”
IPSO said this was misleading because customers had not received £676, but would potentially see it in savings if standing charges were ditched under plans by the regulator Ofgem.
IPSO added that this was “significant” because it “had the potential to mislead readers about their energy costs and potential savings”.
The Express published a correction 13 days of publication and IPSO said this was sufficient to avoid a further breach of the Editors’ Code.
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