This morning the Government began publishing all spending over £500 on Government Procurement Cards (GPCs). Earlier this year we launched a campaign against wasteful spending on GPCs and other corporate credit cards, uncovering millions of pounds that was previously insufficiently monitored.GPCs are credit cards used widely throughout the public sector.... Read more...
Clever thinking at Bristol City Council as they propose replacing two costly night bus services with a shared-taxi scheme. Instead of catching night buses to Avonmouth and Henbury after midnight, Bristol residents will be able to share a taxi ride from the same bus stop for a flat £4 fare.... Read more...
Last night saw Aidan Burley, MP for Cannock Chase, call for an end to the taxpayer funding of trade unions. In a heated debate that attracted the attendance of Secretary of State Eric Pickles, Burley put forward a comprehensive case for the ending of what he called the “Spanish practice”... Read more...
48 councils still jet-setting whilst 29 go for austerity The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) can today reveal the cost of flights by local authorities in the Midlands over the last two years. Our findings include business class and premium air travel and show that 48 councils in the region have continued... Read more...
Based on the premise that you have to keep repeating yourself over and over again before people will start listening, here are some words I wrote two weeks ago regarding Lambeth Council's search for an Energy Efficiency Manager:I am sure many of you who have worked in offices will have... Read more...
Last week MPs criticised the Department for International Development’s "poor understanding" of the scale and possibility of aid being lost to fraud. This is all the more troubling given DfID will see its budget increase by a third over the course of this Parliament. We’ve said before that the Government... Read more...
The Adam Smith Institute has released a report this morning on High Speed 2. What they think about the project is summed neatly by the title of the paper: High Speed Fail. It's yet another voice added to a growing body that believes the project is flawed.Alongside the TPA are... Read more...
If you live in Hull and some of the surrounding areas (the 01482 dialling code) instead of having a BT telephone line, your services are provided by KC - part of the KCOM group. When municipal telephone exchanges were brought into the national network, Hull was the exception, and it... Read more...
Improving technology in healthcare can save lives. The latest machines can catch illnesses earlier and can administer more effective treatments than ever. Julia Manning of 2020 Health wrote on Friday that a heart clinic in Southampton monitors pacemakers remotely so patients don’t have to travel to hospital for check-ups and... Read more...
A report in the Yorkshire Post says Humberside Police has recorded one if the worst crime rates in the country. Between June and August this year the force ranked in the bottom three for violent assaults causing injury and incidents of criminal damage, and is among the worst 10 for serious... Read more...
Matthew Sinclair's recent book, Let Them Eat Carbon, continues to attract the attention of parliamentarians at Westminster. Last week it was mentioned twice in the House of Commons chamber, firstly by Wycombe MP Steve Baker during a debate on Wednesday, while explaining his concerns that government-backed EU climate change policies... Read more...
It's around 10 o'clock in the evening, and it's been a long day, so you decide to go for a couple of beers at your local pub to unwind. You get chatting to some friends, and you leave at midnight. Because you are a responsible citizen, you left your car... Read more...
For a long time, we were all fed the line that council parking charges were not merely another tax on residents but were ring-fenced for the purpose of improving the local transport system. Now Cotswold District Council (CDC) has done away with this pretence and is keen to introduce Sunday... Read more...
You can read the full report here Click here for the complete press release The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has called for National Insurance (NI) to be scrapped to make the tax system simpler and more transparent. The need for tax reform has never been more pressing, particularly in light of... Read more...
At a time when some councils are squandering taxpayers' money, it is refreshing to hear that one council has managed to save around £10 million by offering contract jobs to the lowest bidder online. In an example that other councils should follow, Leicestershire county council seem to be taking plans... Read more...
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) appointed Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti as the UK's Climate and Energy Security Envoy. It is important to note that this doesn't appear to be his only duty, he seems to have a real job... Read more...
This weekend, you may get an unwelcome letter on your doormat from the taxman. Thanks to yet another blunder over a million taxpayers will have to pay back an average of £600 each, including 150,000 pensioners. Excessive taxes, rising utility bills and excessive fuel duty are already hitting families hard,... Read more...
In the face of angry protests outside Shire Hall, Cambridgeshire County councillors have voted themselves a massive 25 per cent pay rise. According to a review panel, councillors were ‘undervalued’ on their existing allowances and a rise to £9,500 was needed to allow ‘local democracy to prosper’. Council Leader Nick... Read more...
Transparency in government spending is something we have been campaigning about for many years. Councils publishing their spending above £500 was a major policy victory for us, but it does have to be said that looking through hundreds of pages of council spending on your computer could be made easier.A... Read more...
In her piece for today’s Guardian, Polly Toynbee describes her trip to the protest camp outside St Paul’s in the City of London on Sunday night, shortly after her “fierce argument” with me on Sky News on the subject. I’ll overlook the fact that she misquotes me in the piece –... Read more...
The latest in a series of investigations by the Daily Telegraph into public bodies’ use of credit cards exposes the bills run up by local authority chief executives across the UK. Earlier this year we led the campaign to uncover huge amounts being spent by Whitehall civil servants racking up million... Read more...
The Ministry of Justice has spent £5.4 million to ensure prisoners can watch digital television on 42 inch plasma screens. A Freedom of Information request has revealed the extent of just some of the excesses of Justice Secretary Ken Clarke’s department. The news has already been criticised by Mark Freeman,... Read more...
In June, I wrote about a local campaign in Winslow, Buckinghamshire to stop the introduction of parking charges in one of the town's car parks. Last year, Aylesbury Vale District Council announced plans to introduce parking charges in Greyhound Lane Car Park. A petition opposing these charges was organised by... Read more...
David Cameron and Chris Huhne have written for the website MoneySavingExpert.com this morning and argued that "everything that can be done will be done to help people bring their energy bills down". It is a fine sentiment but not matched by their actions. They are continuing to impose regulations that will... Read more...