The question of Scottish Independence is a burning issue both in Holyrood and Westminster, but the Welsh Government in Cardiff Bay has now managed to scuff together enough half-baked arguments to include itself in the discussion. This, of course, is regarding the debate over borrowing and tax raising powers. Read more...
One of the great pleasures of grassroots campaigning is meeting new people. On Wednesday, after some radio interviews promoting our "Justice for Brid" protest on Saturday, I drove to Bridlington to meet local traders who are being directly affected by council blunders. In a recent post I highlighted the social... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance believes that a healthy and vibrant local press ensures proper scrutiny of local authorities. When councils use taxpayers' cash to distribute their own publications they create direct and unfair competition for local media, harming genuine accountability. They also cost taxpayers' money and savings need to be made.... Read more...
A Cornish supporter points out a distinct lack of value when it comes to their parish council. Feock Parish Council has one of the highest annual precepts in Cornwall, at more than £100,000, but this year the parish council has budgeted a staggering £73,320—nearly three quarters of its annual expenditure—on... Read more...
After waiting for a week for a full statement from East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) about the fiasco in Bridlington, the statement from Alan Menzies, Director of Planning and Economic Regeneration, printed in Saturday's Yorkshire Post, was a huge disappointment. Read more...
The TaxPayer’s Alliance Bumper Books of Government Waste helped set the national agenda on how Whitehall and local councils spend and sometimes squander our money. I’m hoping my new book on the national debt, just out, will do the same on our deficit. It’s astonishing how commentators defend our being... Read more...
On Tuesday, when I wrote about Bridlington's regeneration scheme hitting the rocks, I said I would post an update when East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) decided on its promised "full and frank response". Well, we are still waiting. Despite knowing for a week that Tesco had decided to pull... Read more...
Five years on from the start of the recession, with GDP still 2.5 per cent lower than it was then, it speaks volumes about the feebleness of the economy that today’s announcement of meagre growth last quarter was greeted with relief. But it’s not just the overall level of growth... Read more...
Reacting to today's report Tax avoidance: the role of large accountancy firms from the Public Accounts Committee , Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: Read more...
Islington Council will have to repay motorists a huge amount in compensation over a bungled road layout scheme. It has apparently caused a number of accidents, including three in which vehicles over-turned while trying to negotiate it. Read more...
The Daily Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner has written about his ‘epiphany’ moment when he realised that UK banks really are being too risk-averse: Read more...
Writing for politics.co.uk TPA Campaign Manager Eleanor McGrath argues against a 60 per cent pay rise for MPs. Read more...
Pub groups have slammed Department for Business, Innovation and Skills plans for a new quango to micro-manage the details of agreements between pub landlords and their commercial tenants. Punch Taverns said: Read more...
"If you want an example of how not to regenerate a town, Bridlington in a prime example". I wrote those words in September 2010, and yesterday it was revealed in the Yorkshire Post that the regeneration plan in the seaside town was on the brink of collapse. Read more...
With Cardiff City getting promoted into top flight football this week, some could be excused for missing another damning blow for the Welsh Government in its attempt to save ailing Cardiff International Airport. Figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority show a decline of 15% in passenger numbers last year,... Read more...
New research by consultants KPMG for tobacco company Philip Morris International has claimed that the UK has the EU's fastest growing black market, which now accounts for one in six cigarettes sold. Read more...
Usually seen as a profitable money-spinner, council parking fines are not such good news for Devon’s district councils. A recent report reveals it is costing them much more money to collect than the fines are generating—nearly £800,000—and that’s all taxpayers’ money being wasted. Read more...
It has been finally announced that a failing £36m back-to-work scheme is to be wound up. The under-performing ‘Genesis Cymru Wales 2’ which was launched at the beginning of the financial crisis was supposed to help 20,000 individuals get back into work or gain the qualifications needed. Read more...
Proof that sky-high business rates are deterring businesspeople from opening up independent shops comes from a young entrepreneur in Bath. Wanting to open a shop in the centre of Bath in busy Stall Street, she was shocked to find that the rent was £15,000 a year but the business rates... Read more...
Last Sunday on BBC One’s The Big Questions, TaxPayers’ Alliance research director John O’Connell faced plenty of wishful thinking from other participants on the programme, not least from author and polemicist Owen Jones: Read more...
When Ann Barnes, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Kent, announced last week she had appointed a Youth Commissioner, she would never have thought the wheels would come off in such a spectacular way. Despite the events of the last few days, Ms Barnes still intends to press ahead and... Read more...
Cardiff City Council has announced a proposal that would see all households throughout the city being forced to use clear bin bags in an attempt to boost recycling. Like other Welsh councils, Cardiff has seen a massive increases in recycling rates, and currently 52 per cent of waste generated does... Read more...
Last week saw the nationalising of Cardiff International Airport at a cost of £52m to Welsh taxpayers. Carwyn Jones, the First Minister of Wales - who had only a few days earlier cried foul learning that Wales was only getting an extra £161m from the Treasury - made the announcement... Read more...
In 2011, the leader of Hull City Council, Cllr Steve Brady, said sick absences at the council must be reduced. A year ago I wrote that the average number of sick absences per staff member (excluding teachers) was 13.1 days. One year on it has been revealed sick absences remain... Read more...