An interesting set of comments from Gordon Brown, first pointed out by a commenter on Guido Fawkes' blog. You can watch the Brown interview with Sky News here, and the PM's comments are copied below. Gordon Brown said: "You can't excuse the irresponsibility that took place in a number ofinstitutions.... Read more...
An interesting piece on the Spectator blog notes that a focus group conducted for Newsnight last night by the famous US polster Frank Luntz finds that tax cuts go down very well with voters: "Of more immediate relevance, however, was the further evidence that the focus group provided about what... Read more...
On the eve of the Labour Party Conference, and with the City in turmoil, an explosive report from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) demolishes what is left of Gordon Brown's reputation for effective economic and public sector management. Using detailed international comparisons and official statistics, the report reveals that in terms... Read more...
The Conservative love affair with the darling of the left Polly Toynbee must end now. If we consider that James McGrath was sacked by the Boris team for suggesting that those who wanted to leave the country should be allowed to go (i.e. the obvious) then Polly’s take on the... Read more...
In The Financial Times of 15th September Associate Editor Philip Stephens writes: “The bigger problem for the Tories, however, lies in an assumption that the fruits of economic growth can be readily shared between higher spending on public services and a rebate to taxpayers. Even in good times, this formula... Read more...
Good news from Hampshire today - the "Hampshire Senate", which looks remarkably like a county-wide replica of the failed regional assemblies, has buckled under pressure from the TPA and the public and has agreed to hold its meetings in public rather than in secret. I'm far from alone in... Read more...
The Birmingham Post reported yesterday that Birmingham City Council will be spending a huge £200million on private sector outsourcing firm Capita and its partner organisations in order to have consultants demonstrate how to save money and run services more efficiently. Not only is this ironic, it also completely flies... Read more...
It was bad enough yesterday reading that Ofsted were advertising for 12 press officers, costing taxpayers over £400,000. Now we see more non-jobs from the two, yes two, job supplements in the Guardian. Take the Public Relations Officer at Dorset County Council earning £28,172 or Diversity Managers at the Audit... Read more...
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was introduced 'in the interests of national security' and offered a range of surveillance powers in order to fight the threat of terrorism. Unfortunately, the right to use the powers available under RIPA has widened from the police and security services to a range... Read more...
...but as predicted, those who have already been hit with fortnightly bin collections are also set to be the first to suffer the new bin taxes and aggressive charges for the heinous crimes of putting your rubbish out before 7.30am or leaving your bin lid slightly open. As much... Read more...
The decision by the Liberal Democrats yesterday to endorse a wide-sweeping tax cutting policy has set the newspapers ablaze with commentary this morning and again tax cuts are on the political agenda in the conference season. To call for lower taxes on low income families is particularly welcome as... Read more...
Lapses in Government data security are becoming incredibly common. Today, the Telegraph reports another case: "Four computer discs containing the details of 17,990 current and former staff were lost in July when they were sent between Whittington Hospital NHS Trust in north London and McKesson, a firm providing IT payroll... Read more...
Five months on from the publication of the Ten Per Cent Challenge, our detailed council-by-council proposals for how to cut council tax, there are encouraging signs that the publication has got into the internal discussions going on in Town Halls worried about their growing unpopularity. In Friday's PR Week,... Read more...
A new report has revealed that 35 out of the Liberal Democrats 53 English seats could be lost to the Conservatives unless they promise tax cuts. Coincidentally Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has promised £20 billion in tax cuts condemning the Conservatives tax and spend plans as “unimaginative” and promising... Read more...
Further to the devastating findings of our report on Regional Development Agencies, a lot of our supporters have been writing to their MP, council or RDA to demand that the RDAs be scrapped. One supporter in the North East wrote to Dari Taylor, MP for Stockton South, about the issue.... Read more...
Download the full report (PDF).The most wide-ranging, comprehensive and up-to-date report on the issue of Corporation Tax, written for Conservative Way Forward (CWF) by Matthew Elliott, Matthew Sinclair and Corin Taylor of the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA), reveals compelling evidence based on the experiences of Britain's leading international competitors that a... Read more...
Yes, as a response to concerns about possible water shortages and the potential unaffordability of water in future, the EU is threatening to reach for the tax laws and tax water! EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas has apparently come up with the brainwave to "ensure people pay for what... Read more...
The NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT) has a bad reputation - it's over budget, running late, losing contractors, saddled with poorly negotiated contracts and at the end of it, it may not produce anything particularly useful. That's not a new opinion; you'll regularly hear politicians, journalists, industry analysts and... Read more...
Sorting Scottish fact from fiction* Our paper on the Barnett formula has stimulated considerable comment both in the mainstream media and the blogosphere (eg see the comments under Iain Dale's highly supportive post). We welcome the debate, and here are our responses to some of the more critical... Read more...
Dan Mitchell, for the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, sets out how tax competition, and tax havens, can make us all better off. Read more...
There has been study after study of NHS productivity since the Office for National Statistics first tried to measure health output. Since then they have included estimates of the change in quality. The Today programme reported this morning that their current conclusion is that in recent years there has been... Read more...
With an eye-watering 720 jobs on offer from government this week, I think it breaks a record for the amount of vacancies in government. Some of the highlights include Durham County Council offering six figure salaries for heads of directorates, assistant chief executives making the £100k limit that will definitely... Read more...
British taxpayers fund the Palestinian Authority (PA) through our contributions to the European Union (EU) budget and by our direct bilateral assistance to the PA. In 2006 this amounted to £47.5 million of our money going to finance the PA budget. The PA has used this money to create a... Read more...
There are good reasons for universities to try and find students from poor backgrounds. All things equal, it is reasonable to believe that the performance of a student facing significant disadvantages - thanks to the school they went to, the area where they grew up in or their family background... Read more...