By: Olivia O'Mahony, intern at the TaxPayers' Alliance We at the TaxPayers' Alliance have written to every council leader across the UK to ask them to pledge not to introduce a four-day week for staff during their leadership. Taxpayers deserve reassurance that they won’t be paying for a part-time... Read more...
By: Conor Holohan, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance There has been no shortage of MP scandals in recent years. Fifteen MPs are currently whipless for a range of alleged reasons, some of which are of the headline-grabbing variety. By-elections have also been held after MPs chose to... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, intern at the TaxPayers' Alliance The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was founded in 1944 at least initially to ensure economic stability and cooperation between nations. In an era before floating exchange rates, the most important element of this was setting fixed exchange rates and providing short-term... Read more...
by Olivia O'Mahony, intern Over the last few months, the TaxPayer’s Alliance has been on the road on our annual Town Hall Rich List Roadshow. We visited 6 of the worst offending councils, chatting to locals in Guilford, Dorchester, Sheffield, Kidderminster, Cardiff and Sunderland. While each area has its... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, intern at the TaxPayers' Alliance Founded in 1944, the World Bank’s original focus was post-war reconstruction and development. Early loans were targeted at European states recovering from war, but from 1947 the World Bank turned its gaze outward and in 1948 Chile became the first non-European... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager Last month, the debate over the licence fee and the future of the BBC reared its head once again, following reports that a formal review of Auntie’s funding model would be announced this autumn. These reports surfaced only a week after the release... Read more...
by Olivia O'Mahony, intern Education is where opportunity is born, or so we are told. Yet, after schools locked their doors and children swapped classrooms for covid lockdowns, the return to the school gates has been an inefficient exercise. Schools are currently facing a crisis, and a costly... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, intern at the TaxPayers' Alliance The World Health Organisation (WHO) was founded in 1948, its focus was on the monitoring and prevention of the prevalent diseases of the day, notably malaria and tuberculosis. Unlike many of the quangos which emerged at the end of the second... Read more...
It was clear blue skies and a beating hot sun for much of June. Plenty of reasons to bunk off work. Taxpayers will certainly wonder if that’s what civil servants were doing in June, given some of the stories we uncovered in our war on waste campaign. Shockingly, many... Read more...
By: Mike Denham, chairman of the TaxPayers' Alliance The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is not given to hysterical exaggeration, so when they describe the outlook for government finances as “alarming” we should all be worried. And taxpayers should be especially worried. At over 100 percent of GDP,... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, intern at the TaxPayers' Alliance Higher education costs taxpayers £9.4 billion a year in the form of unpaid student loans alone, but the true cost is much greater. An under-reported cost of higher education is the millions pumped into quangos whose main job is to ‘aid’... Read more...
By: Rory Meakin, research fellow at the TaxPayers' Alliance The more time spent analysing potential tweaks and improvements to the existing tax system, the more it becomes apparent that the UK desperately needs something more substantial than fiddling at the margins. Tax itself is, per se, economically damaging.... Read more...
by Danny LaManna, intern The TaxPayers’ Alliance has long called for fraud to be a priority of ministers. Waste is bad enough, but precious resources being misdirected through criminal means makes a mockery of the record-high tax burden households are currently paying. And too little is being done about... Read more...
By: Tom Ryan, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance Recently, Priti Patel spoke out against the plan for an OECD minimum corporation tax, arguing that it “means a return to the bad old days when western governments metaphorically put a finger in the dam and wished away innovation, competition... Read more...
By: Jonathan Eida, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance Rishi Sunak has tried to turn caution in economic matters into a virtue following the dramatic demise of his predecessor. On the leadership campaign trail, the now prime minister said: “If the government goes on a huge borrowing spree that is... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance May was a month of bank holidays. Many took advantage and went away to soak up a bit of sun after a miserable month of April. But for many council officials and councillors there was no need to go... Read more...
by Cllr Joe Otten, councillor for Dore & Totley, Sheffield The latest front in the public health blob’s war on choice can be found in the arcane world of planning policy. Officials in Sheffield are attempting to impose a ban on new hot food takeaways that wish to open... Read more...
by Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager My phone has no signal, and I’m wading through a pile of outdated newspapers and magazines to pass the time - I can only be in one place. Having taken a few non-emergency trips to various London hospitals recently, long waits in corridors... Read more...
by Conor Holohan, media campaign manager At prime minister’s questions last week, Anthony Browne MP brought the House of Commons’ attention to an experiment taking place in South Cambridgeshire. South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) has been trialling a four-day working week for their desk staff, and last month... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager It’s been a topsy-turvy week. ITV’s iconic daytime duo - former best buddies Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield - have imploded in a flurry of controversy and bitter recriminations. Rishi Sunak appeared on their show to say he thought immigration was too high,... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance We promised a bombshell in the March edition of this blog. Well here it is. Our investigation, which splashed the Mail+ (the online late edition of the Daily Mail), found that 240 ambulances were delayed by low-traffic neighbourhood schemes... Read more...
By Benjamin Elks, operations manager With the dust settling on the recent local elections, a raft of new councillors will be taking their seats in council chambers across the country. Many will have dreams of fixing potholes, rejuvenating town centres, and ‘delivering’ for residents - if their pre-election leaflets... Read more...
By Mike Denham, chairman of the TaxPayers' Alliance Analysis by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) suggests that the number of people employed by the state is nearly double that of official estimates of 5.7 million. The original NIESR paper raises some excellent questions about exactly... Read more...
by Morgan Schondelmeier, tax and trade policy manager at the British Beer and Pub Association The British people don’t need an excuse for a pint down the pub. One of our most famous and beloved pastimes, the pub has been at the centre of our culture and heritage for... Read more...