Councils love spending taxpayers’ money on consultations as it gives the appearance of local democracy in action. But having spent tens of thousands of our pounds listening to us, it seems they then feel no obligation to abide by what we tell them.In Bath, the council spent £40,000 conducting a... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) this morning reacted to the consultation launched on HS2. An earlier research note looked at the flaws in the business case and forthcoming research will investigate claims that the scheme will create jobs. This press release highlights the incredible cost to taxpayers. The cost to taxpayers... Read more...
Over the weekend Baroness Eaton, Chair of the LGA said that local government workers may start to opt out of the Local Government Pension Scheme if they had to up their contributions. Of course, the unions chimed in, with GMB saying that 39 per cent of their members would opt... Read more...
On 22 February, the BBC reported that Welsh taxpayers have been slapped by huge council tax increases even though frontline services are being cut. Nearly all but one council (Caerphilly) within Wales have decided to increase their council tax by an average of 3% in April. All this a week after... Read more...
It was a shock to hear that disgraced criminal and former MP David Chaytor has launched a challenge to his 18 month jail sentence. The 61-year-old was found guilty of fiddling his parliamentary expenses and jailed on January 7th. During his trial a jury heard how he’d forged tenancy documents... Read more...
It was almost 12 months ago that Windsor and Maidenhead council gave notice to leave the Local Government Association. After meeting the LGA’s peculiar rule to provide a year’s notice, many councils regularly give notice of leaving just to keep their options open, but they are going to follow through... Read more...
“It’s very sad that the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) seem to have completely missed our point about supply teachers. As we said, we fully understand that they are a necessity to cope with disruptions such as staff on sick or maternity leave and there is absolutely no suggestion in... Read more...
Left Foot Forward have posted a reply from Duncan Weldon to Fraser Nelson and I poking holes in his argument that strong income tax receipts in January show the 50p rate has effectively raised revenue. He makes two arguments. First, he says that there is a longer term pattern of... Read more...
Includes a breakdown of spending for every English secondary school We today reveal that secondary schools in England spent £293 million on supply teachers in 2009-10. The findings come as part of the first detailed analysis of spending data released by the Department for Education in January 2011.The percentage of... Read more...
On Monday the Charity Commission published a report on its investigation into PERT which had been prompted by claims made in the Guardian newspaper about the relationship between the Politics and Economics Research Trust (PERT), a grant making charity, and the TaxPayers’ Alliance. The newspaper had wrongly claimed that PERT... Read more...
Duncan Weldon is over the moon claiming that all the "scaremongering" that the 50p rate could well lose money, which has come not just from the TPA but also the Institute for Fiscal Studies and consultancy the Centre for Economics and Business Research, should be rejected because we saw strong... Read more...
If you are thinking about a visit to North Yorkshire, please be aware that Harrogate Council is looking for three new parking wardens. It could be three existing wardens are moving on to pastures new, or the council is expanding its operation. Looking around the country, I think it will... Read more...
So it’s official. Nottingham City Council is the only local authority in England that is refusing to publish all spending over £500 online. The council’s deputy leader has described the requirement – which for the time being remains voluntary – as a waste of time and money. Nottingham taxpayers will... Read more...
Government run services will be expected to open up to private sector competition with payment-by-results contracts giving providers incentives to improve service quality, the Prime Minister has said in the Daily Telegraph. Downing Street has said the plans will go further than previous similar reforms in specific areas of the... Read more...
In a sombre mood, TPA supporter John Martin describes Norfolk County Council’s budget setting meeting and its aftermath. Sadly, it is all too commonplace now to see televised reports of council meetings at which members of the public are ejected by security guards from the public gallery. Inevitably, they will... Read more...
It has taken nine months, but at last the government has finally announced it is going to crackdown on non-jobs in town halls across the country. To be fair to the government, if it wanted to stay true to its localism agenda, it had to give councils the opportunity to... Read more...
'Although it has not been an easy decision to leave the council,' Phil Dolan told the Local Government Chronicle in February 2010, ‘anyone who knows me will know that I am passionate about councils finding more efficient ways of working.’ I am sure his departing was made a lot easier... Read more...
We've been keeping our supporters abreast of the ongoing debate over the proposal for a new High Speed Rail line, which we pointed out was a Huge Spending Risk in our report on 4 February. To catch up on the debate so far see our last blog. Read more...
We've today released the first full survey of the number of bins that each council asks residents to sort their rubbish into. The research reveals that those in Newcastle-under-Lyme have the biggest job, being asked to sort their waste into NINE separate receptacles. Some other councils collect recycling from a... Read more...
Barclays boss Marcus Aigus has warned that his firm is finding it more difficult to keep senior staff in London due to the UK’s 50p top rate of income tax. This news adds to growing fears that at 50 per cent income tax is at or beyond the vertex of... Read more...
Does the government measure its success in column inches? That was the question posed by Sir Humphrey Appleby to Jim Hacker in the comedy series, 'Yes Minister!' Hacker replied, "Yes. No. Yes and no." It's not just central government who measures its success in column inches. Your council thinks the... Read more...
A referendum for providing more powers to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) is only two weeks away. This referendum - if approved - aims to give the Assembly Government powers similar to that of the Scottish Parliament. Established in 1999, the Assembly has seen an ever increasing budget and portfolio... Read more...
Over at Left Foot Forward Guy Shrubsole is very upset about the decision to cut the Carbon Trust budget by 40 per cent. He blames us for saving taxpayers £33 million that would otherwise have been spent on this inscrutable, wasteful and unnecessary quango. He even says that:"It is to... Read more...
A small developer from Kent gave me a rough outline of why a project for three modest 3/4 bed houses which I had introduced him to was no longer worthwhile. He was particularly scornful of the local Council’s Affordable Housing Levy which has just been introduced or “another stealth tax”... Read more...