Lib Dem leaflet claims newspaper said party was ‘on the up’ … but it was quoting leader Jo Swinson

The Liberal Democrats were accused of “fake news” today in a row over leaflets and letters posted through hundreds of doors.

People across London have been sent leaflets which quote the Guardian newspaper as saying the Lib Dems are “winning and on the up after by-election victory”.

But the quote was from leader Jo Swinson following the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election in August.

Lib Dem candidate for Finchley and Golders Green Luciana Berger told Sky News today that the leaflet was “100 per cent the truth” and “it’s saying the source from where it was said”.

Meanwhile, bar charts have appeared on candidate letters claiming to be YouGov polls when they are from third-party sites.

City “superwoman” Nicola Horlick, who is running in Chelsea and Fulham, has sent out letters claiming the Lib Dems are on 33 per cent, just behind the Tories on 36 per cent. On further inspection, the data is from a company called Flavible which is not a member of the British Polling Council.

Anthony Wells, director of political research at YouGov, said they have not conducted a constituency poll of that area, adding: “I believe this is a projection a third party website has made based on one of our national GB polls — these projections are not endorsed by YouGov, and shouldn’t be presented as a YouGov poll.”

Greg Hands, the Conservative candidate for Chelsea and Fulham, said: “This is more fake news polling from the Lib Dems. Last time in Chelsea and Fulham they were a very poor third on 11 per cent.”

A Liberal Democrat spokesman said: “The local letter makes explicitly clear that Flavible projections have been used.”