Today we heard about the £6billion cuts in spending - and that the Department of Health was spared. Any savings that the department makes can be reinvested. With so much extra money ploughed into such a large organisation over the last few years - £650billion since 2003 - lots has... Read more...
The government has just announced £6.2 billion of savings to try and get a handle on the deficit. And, as predicted, the transport budget will take a substantial cut of £683 million. This makes the Department for Transport (DfT) third in highest cuts behind Department for Communities and Local Government... Read more...
£150 to you George Osborne's Treasury has apparently put together a waste dossier. We say apparently because, although it has been leaked to journalists, it has not been officially published so we humble taxpayers can take a look for ourselves - not an encouraging start for the promised era of public spending... Read more...
Yesterday Asda cut the cost of petrol by 2 pence. The move sparked a domino effect with Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury and Shell all following suit. The supermarket's fuel prices are currently 115.9p a litre for petrol and 118.9p a litre for diesel. This will be welcomed by motorists who have... Read more...
Oh no. It’s The Public in West Bromwich again - they just won’t stop fiddling with it and making this disastrous project even worse. The gallery’s backers have always insisted in throwing good money after bad, and this time they’ve incorporated a conference suite into the “techogallery”/old time dance hall/music... Read more...
The NHS in Scotland has spent thousands on drawing up a 64 page leaflet called ‘Spiritual Care Matters’. Amongst other things it teaches hospital staff how to treat druids. If you thought that was amusing have a look at some of the weird and wonderful illustrations contained within this... Read more...
Earlier this week I reported how Humberside Police were going to spend £25,000 on artwork outside their new – yet to be built – divisional headquarters in Hull. The good news today is the authority has backed down. Unfortunately, along with the good news there is some bad news. It... Read more...
The new coalition have released their document Our Programme for Government. It's a broad document, and a little light on substantive detail, but there are sections on local government and transparency that deserve some attention. A few of the key points on local government: We will promote the radical... Read more...
Just when people thought they might be able to get their BA flight they are once again disappointed. Today a panel of senior judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, overturned the ban on industrial action. The panel ruled 2-1 in favour of overturning the injunction. This was welcomed by Unite... Read more...
Warrington Council’s advert for a Climate Change Manager may have incensed many of you last week in terms of the role’s validity and the hefty price-tag for taxpayers, but this week the public sector have outdone themselves in terms of just how much money they’re prepared to pay to dazzle... Read more...
Humberside Police are planning to build a new divisional headquarters in Hull, at an estimated cost of £26 million. The existing HQ in Queens Gardens is apparently no longer fit for service. The Taxpayers’ Alliance will be keeping on a close eye on the plans for the new HQ, for... Read more...
What we really missed during the financial crisis, and what we really need now to stop it happening again, is an effective way of "attributing systemic risk to individual institutions". Fortunately, the Bank for International Settlements have a new Working Paper out called Attributing systemic risk to individual institutions, which... Read more...
I'm aghast for Scottish motorists; Glasgow council wants to increase parking fines from £30 to £100. Drivers should get out of their cars and onto the streets and protest at this massive rise. Motorists must take action to stop the council ripping them off. This is a clear case of... Read more...
Yesterday a High Court judge ruled the planned Unite strikes at British Airway (BA) - what would have been the longest strike at a major UK employer for a quarter of a century – illegal. This is reminiscent of the ruling over Christmas, where the courts also found in favour... Read more...
As the BBC reports, "EU finance ministers are meeting in Brussels later to discuss hedge fund regulation." That regulation would be extremely bad news for Britain, for reasons set out in an article from TPA Chief Executive Matthew Elliott in the Sunday Telegraph: "First of all, the new regulations would... Read more...
Today Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the creation of the Office for Budget Responsibility. Here is the section of his speech where he sets out how it will be constituted: "So they can get to work immediately, the OBR will initiallyoperate on a non-statutory basis, just as the... Read more...
Even if it's not true, it's telling that it's so believable. According to David Laws (the new Chief Secretary to the Treasury), the handover letter left for him by his predecessor Liam Byrne simply read: "There's no money left." Well, he was right but it's a pity he either wouldn't... Read more...
In a report produced with the Institute of Directors last September, we provided a set of cuts that added up to £50 billion in savings from annualspending. We updated those recommendations for the new book How to Cut Public Spending (and Still Win an Election). You can get a basic... Read more...
In February, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council announced a 1.5% increase in council tax for 2010/11, saying it couldn’t find anymore efficiency savings and that it was dipping into reserve funds to limit the rise. Today it is reported the council leader, Stephen Parnaby, has announced a freeze in... Read more...
Some good news for motorists. New Transport Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday vowed that the coalition Government would "end the war on motorists”. Motorists can breathe a sigh of relief that the Tory/Lib Dem coalition have not stuck with the Lib Dem manifesto policy of national road pricing. Hammond promised there... Read more...
Today the media is showing pictures of the brand new cabinet’s first meeting. Top of the agenda is how to deal with the crippling national debt, and all the parties believe that spending cuts should do most of the work in any fiscal adjustment.The trade unions are also getting ready... Read more...
In a new video, Dan Mitchell from the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity looks at the problems with capital gains tax. While there are some differences in the UK, the basic message applies here too. The capital gains tax imposes additional taxation on the saving and investment we should be... Read more...
An article on The Stirrer today reports how bewildered parents have been sacked from their voluntary school governor roles only to be replaced by a paid “expert” whose last school was on a government crisis list. Thelma Probert has been appointed to the Interim Executive Board (set-up to take... Read more...
With spending cuts on the horizon, many public sector bosses are ready to bunker down and fight to keep their share. Some, however, have a more sensible and realistic outlook. Rob Whiteman, the incoming Managing Director of the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), is one such example. IDeA is the... Read more...