Tory HQ bungle figures on teenage pregnancies

The Tories have been accused of being "out of touch" today for wrongly claiming more than half of girls in the most deprived areas get pregnant before they turn 18. They said the conception rate for this age group in the 10 most disadvantaged areas of England was 54%, while the real figure was 5.4%.

Although the Tories have admitted that the figure was wrong due to the misplacing of a decimal point but have not, so far, withdrawn the document.

The Liberal Democrats' chief of staff, Danny Alexander, said: "The Tories seem to think that half our teenagers are pregnant, our cities are like The Wire and that people will get married for a few extra quid.

"If they really believe Britain is like this, it's remarkable that Conservative MPs can pluck up the courage to leave their houses.

"They should lower their drawbridges, spend less time tending their moats and duck houses, and join the rest of us in the real world."

Cllr David Kendall, prospective parliamentary candidate for Brentwood & Ongar, said:

"It seems the Tories cannot get their sums right either locally or nationally. In Brentwood, they mislaid £633,000 of our money and couldn't get our accounts signed off and now, nationally, they make a mistake like this by leaving out a decimal point.

"It must be of concern to residents if they cannot get their figures right - what sort of a government would they form?

"Many residents have told me how much they trust, respect and like Vince Cable and are putting their trust in the Liberal Democrats now."