Today’s Mail carries news that the BBC may have to fund free TV licenses. This would be a fantastic move and one we suggested in our book How to cut public spending. The Department for Work and Pensions transfers over half a billion pounds a year to the BBC to... Read more...
Several days ago, it was reported that France is going to try to fight piracy by subsidizing digital music. Under the new scheme, French citizens between the ages of 12 and 25 will be able to purchase prepaid cards called ‘carte musique’ that can be used on all French music... Read more...
TaxPayers' Alliance reveals the true extent of UK national debt Read more...
The front page of the Bath Chronicle features Patrick Rotheram, transport spokesman for the Federation of Bath Residents’ Associations, saying that Bath is ‘overrun with traffic’ and that the Circus is like a ‘roundabout.’ I live in the centre of Bath and frequently walk round the Circus to see the... Read more...
Last week, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) took a step towards reducing restrictions and burdensome constraints on councils. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles added to his already heaving pile of reforms by announcing his plans to scrap Local Area Agreements (LAAs). These agreements require local councils to regularly... Read more...
Whilst we were celebrating scores of wasteful quangos being culled last week, a little-reported piece of news about consultants didn’t escape our notice.The National Audit Office released information showing that the Government took out 50 new contracts with consultants in less than three months, despite promising to cut the cost... Read more...
Some quick updates on how local authorities are approaching transparency and reducing spending:• 75 Councils in the UK are now publishing their spending over £500 online. Of the 433 Councils in the UK, this is obviously only a small proportion; however it is a promising start. The Department for Communities... Read more...
We blogged earlier about the Cabinet Office’s quango document. Included in the abolished bodies list is the Union Modernisation Fund Supervisory Board, which oversees the administration of the Union Modernisation Fund (UMF) – something that we called to scrap in our recent ‘Taxpayer Funding of the Trade Unions’ paper. Read more...
The media were very keen on the “bonfire of the quangos” line this morning and the Government were equally keen to distance themselves from it. And the Cabinet Office’s release seems to have disappointed them somewhat; it’s not a bonfire by any means but there are some significant changes afoot.... Read more...
Who’d have thought at this stage in the game, with the axe poised to swing, we’d still be seeing costly non-jobs advertised by local government? A report we released this week outlined the overall cost to the taxpayer of just four unnecessary council positions – Climate Change Officers, Diversity Officers, ... Read more...
Time to break out the port?Lord Browne's report on university finance cuts straight through to the key issues. His recommendations manage to combine proper funding for the unis, with affordability, with competitive pressure, with... well, to coin a phrase, fairness for all (especially taxpayers). So hurrah.We've blogged the shambolic state... Read more...
At the TPA, we have produced a lot of research looking at waste in the European Union. Here are just a few of the findings about how the EU spends its budget: £2 million on EU bands and orchestras. The number of staff at EU quangos has grown 23 per... Read more...
Dan Mitchell, at the Center for Freedom and Prosperity in the States, has a new video about spending cuts. He makes a really powerful case that the ongoing deficit is the result of the failure of politicians to restrain spending, not insufficient tax revenue.The numbers are a bit different in... Read more...
The Carbon Trust’s website states: “By stimulating low carbon action we contribute to key UK goals of lower carbon emissions, the development of low carbon businesses, increased energy security and associated jobs.”Well, they must be relying on the “special support” they give to businesses and the public sector because they... Read more...
In July last year Matthew Sinclair co-authored a report with Dr Jonathan Scott on entrepreneurship. They showed that the 50p rate of tax could mean a top combined marginal tax rate of 92 per cent for successful entrepreneurs on income earned, saved, invested in a company and passed on to... Read more...
Cuts in public spending just got fashionable. Sir Philip Green, the owner of Topshop and Bhs has detailed the staggering waste of money that is happening in Whitehall departments. And, as far as I can see, a self-made billionaire is a man you should listen to about money.Sir Philip has... Read more...
You're being ripped off, my friendRegular BOM readers will be all too familiar with the Simple Shopper and his staggering ability to burn our cash (see previous blogs gathered here). But Mr Cameron's procurement guru Sir Philip Green has clearly been stunned by what he's discovered about the Shopper's operations:"The process is shocking.... Read more...
Climate Change Officers, Political Advisors, Diversity Officers and European Officers cost taxpayers £41 million a year Includes a full local council breakdown The TaxPayers' Alliance today reveals new research on the cost of unnecessary staff at local councils. These non-frontline workers are doing jobs that could be cut, without putting... Read more...
In our recent paper on Regional Development Agency (RDA) grants, we showed how most of the money was given to public sector organisations, or those firmly rooted in the public sector. Some of these organisations act as pseudo businesses, meaning that they can often crowd out genuine private sector companies... Read more...
In our work on how to cut spending we recommended cuts in Child Benefit, with measure to support the poorest. Not because we wanted to bash the middle classes, who have had a tough deal with tax hikes on everything from driving to work to buying a home, but because... Read more...
Last week, I wrote about a campaign organised by businesses in Hull City Centre. They are tired of over-zealous parking wardens driving away potential customers, and are appealing to Hull City Council to show some leadership and rein in the wardens. This story in the Yorkshire Post today highlights the... Read more...
The Underlying Costs of EU Defence IntegrationBy Dr Lee Rotherham, with a foreword by Rear Admiral Richard Heaslip CB Click here to read the full report Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) today welcomed the Hutton Commission's recommendations to reduce the cost of public sector pensions, and urged the Government to implement them as soon as possible.In a series of reports (How to save £50 billion, September 2009; How to Cut Public Spending, March 2010) and a submission... Read more...
Yesterday transport secretary Philip Hammond made his case for localism within transport policy. He stated:Well, what I have inherited at the Department for Transport is a system which is truly a monument to Gordon Brown's tenure at the Treasury. Something the Soviets would have been proud of.A top-down system with... Read more...