While most Members of Parliament accept that the expenses scandal meant that reform of the system was needed, there are some in Westminster who long for a return to the ‘good old days’. Following the Telegraph’s revelations in 2009, it was widely hoped that all Members would accept change as... Read more...
The current Lord Mayor of Hull, Cllr Colin Inglis, is a very colourful figure to say the least. A former leader of the city council, and a former chairman of Humberside Police Authority, he made it clear a few weeks ago he fully intends to use his term as Lord... Read more...
Today the aviation industry has launched a campaign entitled "Hands off our Holiday, Mr Taxman". Aviation taxes have risen sharply over the years, particularly when they were doubled in 2007, and Britain now has incredibly high rates compared to other European countries. That is an unwelcome burden on families looking... Read more...
John Redwood MP has an interesting blog today on the talk of downward revisions to growth over the weekend. “I find it surprising that people are surprised that growth is slow. It all goes back to the misunderstanding about which sector, public or private, took the hit last year... the... Read more...
Multi-million pounds schemes for building unnecessary transport infrastructure are surging ahead across the South West despite the need for councils to rein in their expenditure. In South Devon, two councils want to borrow £23 million to help fund a bypass between Newton Abbott and Torquay, but the debt would cost... Read more...
Last weekend I debated Neil Coyle, from the Disability Alliance, about changes to Disability Living Allowance. During that discussion he made a lot of very misleading arguments and I just wanted to clear up the facts.Here is the video of the debate first:Let's look at three issues. Is the benefit... Read more...
Councils are apparently the most efficient of all public sector organisations. I have always thought this was more a reflection of the state of government departments and Quangos, rather than saying councils are efficient. All too often we see examples of wasteful council largesse, and this story is no exception.Until... Read more...
Yesterday, the BBC reported that according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), public sector workers are paid on average 7.8% more than their private sector counterparts. This is an increase of 2.5% in the last three years. When you factor in generous pension entitlements, the gap will be wider.... Read more...
In last week's bulletin, we asked you to get in touch if your council was introducing or increasing car parking charges (if you are not registered as a supporter and would like to receive our weekly bulletin, please click here). We got an immediate response from all around the country,... Read more...
The fallout from the Conservatives’ failure to keep their election pledge of maintaining weekly rubbish collections can be seen plainly throughout the West Country. From November, in West Wiltshire, residents will see their rubbish collections shifted to fortnightly, with a 240 litre blue-lidded bin added to their existing black box... Read more...
Former Tory peer and ex-leader of Essex County Council, Lord Hanningfield, was today jailed for 9 months for fiddling his parliamentary expenses.Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:"It is good to see justice done and Lord Hanningfield sent to jail for abusing his expenses. He needed to go to... Read more...
Along with the much-publicised rows about the fairness of the Olympic lottery, there have been numerous stories about public sector bodies buying tickets for the 2012 Games. Last month we asked our supporters to get in touch with their local councils to see whether they had bought tickets on the... Read more...
Remember the last government’s grand plans for regional FiReControl centres? If not let me jog your memory, they were the ones with no staff but luxury £6,000 Brasilia coffee machines.The idea was to replace 46 fire control rooms in England with nine purpose-built regional centres. The Coalition Government scrapped the... Read more...
Thousands of public sector workers are on strike today over the Government's pension reforms. Those reforms are vital so that taxpayers don't foot an unfair share of the bill for the over a trillion pound unfunded public sector pension liability. The TPA has long called for reform to make the... Read more...
Many thanks to supporters for sending in their non-job suggestions. As ever, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of them, and although I cannot top last week's non-contract of the week, there are still some revealing posts being advertised.The London Borough of Sutton is advertising for a Customer Insight... Read more...
As trade unions threaten disruptive strikes, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) this morning reveals 37 trade union leaders took home pay packets of £100,000 or more. Read more...
We have highlighted many instances of increases in taxation through the back door. Burial fees going up, increased planning application charges, and the old chestnut - parking charges.As anyone who owns a car will testify, the cost of motoring makes you think twice before you make some journeys. When I... Read more...
English Heritage seems determined to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on not altogether necessary changes to the site around Stonehenge in Wiltshire.The saga began last summer when the Coalition government cancelled a proposed £25m scheme to replace the current visitor centre and shift it one and a half... Read more...
Last week we released a new opinion poll and one of the results was that there is strong support for cancelling funding for the Government's high speed rail plans. 48% supported cutting HS2 against 34% opposed. It isn't just the headline figures that are interesting though. YouGov asked 2,732 British... Read more...
On Conservative Home today John Moss, a Conservative Candidate in the City & East constituency for next year’s London Assembly election, wrote about Tower Hamlets Council’s decision not to scrap their newspaper ‘East End Life’, in defiance of the DCLG’s new ‘Code of Conduct’. He said “one London council is... Read more...
When you scratch the surface, it's amazing what you find. Last week I wrote about Aylesbury Vale District Council (AVDC). As they had some negative publicity from the local press, they prevented officers and cabinet members from speaking to local journalists. They really did shoot themselves in the foot, as... Read more...
A major new YouGov / TaxPayers' Alliance poll of 2,732 British adults reveals that the public support billions in spending cuts to foreign aid, high speed rail, trade union funding and a Green Investment bank. The full poll results are available here Click here to read an explanation of the... Read more...
Lincolnshire County Council - in common with many local authorities - is planning to taking on the responsibility of parking enforcement from the police. This is due to commence in June 2012. This policy has caused controversy in Hull, where parking wardens sniff around cars, waiting to pounce like pit-bull... Read more...
The man in charge of deciding what information should ultimately be made public has ruled that high paid civil servants pay must be made public. The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham has decided that the names of 24 high-earning public sector workers, who previously tried to avoid being named, must be... Read more...