Mark Francois did not deny that there is a gender pay gap

A post on Facebook shows a picture of the Conservative MP, Mark Francois, accompanied by a quote that it attributes to him. 

The quote says, “There is no gender pay gap. The simple fact is that female workers are only about 70% as productive as male workers and that is why they are paid less.”

This appears to be a fabrication. We can find no evidence that Mr Francois has ever said this. 

The Facebook account that posted the quote lists itself as “Satire/parody”, but it describes its purpose as “to tell you about the fibs quitters and politicians tell about the EU and other issues and to expose their embarresing [sic] moments”. It also appears that many of the people commenting below the quote believed it to be accurate.

When we contacted his office, a spokesperson for Mr Francois told us, “This is a complete sham. As Mark is a strong meritocrat, he has never used those words, nor would he. This post is clearly fake news.” 

We cannot find this quotation in Hansard, which keeps a record of everything said in Parliament. Indeed, having searched online, we cannot find it attributed to anyone.