Imagine that tomorrow I was elected as MP for Mid Mid-West St. Appleby-on-the-Hill. Now let’s imagine that, after being sworn in, I decide that this politician lark and the commute to and from the Home Counties each week isn’t really for me so I decide to jet off to Cuba... Read more...
What is a mayor worth? Earlier this year, the people of Bristol bucked the national trend against posturing politicians by voting for a directly elected mayor to run the city council. Now, a panel of local government bureaucrats have decided on how much this mayor should be paid—the same as... Read more...
Hats off to Sutton Council, south London, for saving taxpayers' money by scrapping its 'leader and cabinet' decision-making process. Formerly, eight executive councilors—the cabinet—each received an extra £17,391 on top of their £10,191 basic allowance. Under a new committee system introduced in May, just five committee chairmen, and a lead... Read more...
The Government’s announcement that planning restrictions may be relaxed on single story extensions and that developers will be able to apply for subsidised housing requirements to be removed if they can prove that they make a development unviable is good news. Subsidised housing rules, cruelly named “affordable housing”, do little... Read more...
One of the positive things to come out of the MPs' expenses scandal of 2009 was that all our politicians' future expense claims would have to be backed up by receipts and then published online so that they could be subject to public scrutiny. For the second year running, the... Read more...
Rory Meakin forthrightly puts forward the case for airport expansion today, not in three years time in a piece for Spectator Coffee House.The Government has announced that it will appoint a bureaucrat to spend three years writing a report on the desperate and urgent shortage of air transport capacity in... Read more...
Two years ago, I was on a panel appearing on the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire edition of the BBC Politics Show. We were discussing the state of the economy, and crucially, how the Government could save money. One of my fellow panellists was a union representative who boldly stated there is... Read more...
One in seven high street shops are now vacant says a new report. Some 10,000 shops have closed over the last two years thanks not only to the recession but a culture of rising charges from local councils, ranging from sky-high business rates to escalating parking fees. The suffering may be... Read more...
In a summer when Britain hosted a Olympics and Paralympics we have already written about many of the associated ridiculous, costly projects that taxpayers have been forced to fund, all under the banner of the ‘Cultural Olympiad’. First it was the helicopter opera, then Nowhereisland but there are lots of... Read more...
There is a real danger that civil service numbers could creep up again following initial cut backs if departments fail to "fundamentally redesign" their working practices, the Public Accounts Committee has warned. The commons’ spending watchdog has published a report based on findings from the Cabinet Office, the Department for... Read more...
In a major Centre for Policy Studies speech on boosting competitiveness titled "There is an alternative: why the government needs a growth policy and how to achieve it", David Davis has today urged the Government to start delivering the 2020 Tax Commission’s Single Income Tax, which he described as “brilliant”:The... Read more...
TPA activists held two action days in Nottingham earlier this year, campaigning for Nottingham City Council to publish all spending above £500 online. Today it has been announced the council is backing down and will now publish spending above £500 online, although the council leader and his deputy have remained silent,... Read more...
The Public Accounts Committee announced that government departments could cut the cost of running buildings by a whopping £800 million. Margaret Hodge MP, who chairs the committee, said that such savings could be made if departments were incentivised to ‘work together’ by the Cabinet Office’s Government Property Unit. The committee... Read more...
Sunderland City Council appears determined to press ahead with their astronomically expensive answer to the Golden Gate Bridge despite condemnation of its design and cost by experts. The Wear Bridge, which is in the middle of an industrial estate, has fervent cross-party support on a council eager to embark on a... Read more...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg awarded Pinhead of the Month award for emergency wealth tax plan Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy is Pin-Up of the Month after call for a reassessment of public spendingToday the TaxPayers’ Alliance announces August’s recipients of its monthly awards to celebrate those politicians who have done... Read more...
The report we released on Tuesday on councillors’ allowances showed the massive differences in allowances paid to local councillors across the country. For local authorities that carry out the same functions and have the same powers, there is a stark difference in the levels of remuneration that councillors receive. In Scotland, it is notable... Read more...
It was reported in the Daily Telegraph this week, the new NHS Commissioning Board (NHS CB) is struggling to recruit staff. The NHS CB is the new body that will replace primary care trusts and strategic health authorities next year. Even a recent drive to find nine 'local team directors'... Read more...
A committee of MPs have today called for more people to be prosecuted for smuggling alcohol by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). The Public Accounts Committee cited the paucity of successful prosecutions in the four years to 2009-10 as evidence of HMRC’s failure to adequately grasp the problem. Our Tax... Read more...
Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has called for a fresh tax raid on the rich. Mr Clegg cited the prolonged economic stagnation as a reason to hike taxes further still:If we want to remain cohesive and prosperous as a society, people of very considerable personal wealth... Read more...
Responding to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s call for an emergency wealth tax in this morning’s Guardian, Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:“Taxpayers can only hope that Nick Clegg realises proposals for a wealth tax are a dead end before it is too late, as Denis Healey... Read more...
Today we can reveal for the first time the massive difference in basic allowances paid to councillors in local authorities around the UK. As part of this campaign, we have also launched a new online tool which allows people to search our comprehensive database to see for themselves how much money their local... Read more...
The Government’s plan is to increase national debt by £600 billion over this Parliament, from 2010 to 2015. Despite this fact, just 10 per cent of the public understand that debt is planned to go up, according to a ComRes poll for the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). Incredibly, 47... Read more...
There is anger in the Forest of Dean as local residents complain about the imposition of parking charges in their town centres. ‘We need to encourage people here,’ argues a Coleford town councillor, ‘we don't have any large tourist attractions. So we rely on people popping in, for maybe an... Read more...
A new report by the Audit Commission claims that councils in England could save £312 million annually if they carried out client assessments more effectively. The report says that in 2010-11 local authorities in England carried out around 1.8 million care assessments to assess client needs and eligibility for care... Read more...