The TaxPayers' Alliance - Home

Friday December 21

Blogs

1pm, Better Government
Matt Sinclair:
OECD statistics provide new evidence of the inefficiency of the NHS

The OECD's new Health at a Glance statistics paint a picture of the poor value for money we get from the NHS.  We spend almost exactly the OECD average amount on healthcare.  The OECD average is $2,759 PPP wheras the UK's is $2,724 PPP. However, we don't get average amounts of a number of key healthcare inputs... - Read More

News Round-up

Swiss Canton introduces 1.8% flat income tax

Obwalden has become the first Swiss canton to adopt a flat income tax rate, with more than 90 per cent of the electorate voting in favour of the move. The decision, announced by the authorities after a vote on Sunday, comes after a court ruled the canton's previous degressive tax model unfair. From next January Obwalden will impose a rate of 1.8 per cent on all categories. The new model also exempts the first SFr10,000 ($8,700) of income from taxation. - Swissinfo.ch

Lakota Indians declare independence and abolish tax

Descendants of the American Indian chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse yesterday declared their independence from the United States, announcing they were withdrawing from treaties signed with the federal government 150 years ago...[a spokesman] said the new country would issue passports and driving licences, and its citizens would live tax-free. - Daily Telegraph

Media Coverage

- How much do you earn? Are you gay? Town Hall Big Brother wants to know

EVERY town hall has been ordered to send out surveys demanding local residents' personal information and opinions. The forms will ask householders to give details of their children, mortgage, ethnic background, religion and sexual orientation. Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers' Alliance said the operation was a "pointless waste of money". "Councils should be trying to make people's lives better by reducing the burden of taxes and improving crumbling services, not poking their noses into our lives," he added. - Daily Mail

- 'Council wasting funds on PR'

A ROW over wasted council tax cash has boiled over amid claims that campaigners have got their sums wrong. The TaxPayers' Alliance - a group that fights for lower rates - has issued a research document entitled Council Spending Uncovered.The group's findings indicate that Redbridge Council chiefs have more than doubled the amount spent over the past decade - from £1.108 million in 1996-1997 to £2.474 million in 2006-2007, the 53rd highest spend in the country. - Ilford Recorder

Thursday December 20

Blogs

4.30pm, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Even the Germans are angry at Darling's tax rises

From today's Financial Times: "German industrialists have urged Alistair Darling to rethink his “highly regrettable” tax changes for foreign residents. German Industry UK, which represents 250 companies in Britain, wants the chancellor to postpone the new tax measures... - Read More

Media Coverage

- Matthew Elliott: Grasping politicians are impervious to shame

No sooner had the David Abrahams dodgy donations scandal broken, but the Government began to use it as a justification for taxpayer funding of political parties. Even to those of us who assume that the Government is shamelessly wily, it is amazing that there has been quite such a shame bypass in Westminster. Having hypocritically broken donation laws which they themselves introduced, and deceived the public in the process, it is almost beyond belief that they should try to turn this scandal to their advantage. - Yorkshire Post

Wednesday December 19

Blogs

5.30pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Germany defends its carmakers

The BBC reports fury in Germany at EU proposals to restrict emissions from new cars...It would be easy to get up on a high-horse about double standards and a German government unwilling to pay the price for action to meet international targets to cut emissions that they've been so active in pushing for.  That would be a mistake, though... - Read More

5.10pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
A big £600,000 'thank you' for Stoke Council workers

We’d all prefer to spend Christmas Eve at home with our families, but should all of the employees of Stoke-On-Trent City Council be treated to the day off as a thank you for all of their “hard work” at taxpayers’ expense? - Read More

3pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Northern Rock guarantee - how much?

As already blogged, yesterday's Treasury statement on the extended Northern Rock guarantee suggested taxpayers are now on the hook for all of the Crock's borrowings, except for a few billion of subordinated debt: ie we are guaranteeing around £100bn. Yet most of today's headlines say the guarantee "only" covers around £56bn. So what's going on? - Read More

2.50pm, Burning Our Money
Corin Taylor:
'PR Week' video podcast on council publicity spending

To watch TPA Research Director Corin Taylor discussing the first Council Spending Uncovered paper, which was on publicity spending, click here.

12.50pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
AWM - a costly failure

Advantage West Midlands – our unelected, unaccountable but nevertheless extremely expensive taxpayer-funded quango – have been missing their targets left, right and centre... - Read More

12.40pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Latest on Crock crisis

Chancellor Darling has extended the taxpayers' guarantee to virtually all Northern Rock's borrowings: retail deposits, wholesale deposits, unsecured borrowing, secured borrowing where the security actually turns out to be insufficient, collateralised and uncollaterised derivatives, onshore and offshore. The whole kit and caboodle... - Read More

10.45am, Economics 101
Matt Sinclair:
Misunderstanding Northern Rock

There are two points surrounding yesterday's events at Northern Rock that really need to be cleared up - Bradford & Bingley's expression of interest in NR's assets, and the latest Government guarantee... - Read More

10.35am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Encouraging words from the Conservatives on tax

Today's reports of George Osborne's most recent comments make encouraging reading for the growing majority who support lower taxes... - Read More

10.15am, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
West Midlands Councils hiring for non-jobs

In the midst of the festive season, as we all splash our hard-earned cash on our nearest and dearest, it’s interesting to see what our local councils are choosing to do with our money... - Read More

10am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Neonatal care is being wrecked by too many targets, not too few

The Guardian reports today on a National Audit Office report that criticises botched reforms to neonatal care... - Read More

News Round-up

Osborne promises tax cuts in 'every Budget' when he is Chancellor

The Conservatives put tax cuts at the heart of their drive to win power last night, promising a series of bold pledges on business taxes. Shadow Chancellor George Osborne told the Daily Mail he plans to announce proposals to slash corporation tax in the New Year...He promised to reduce the tax burden on companies and individuals in every Budget as Conservative chancellor, although he made no specific commitment on personal income tax. However, a boost for married couples in the shape of transferable tax allowances is one key move already signalled. - Daily Mail

Media Coverage

- BBC licence to waste money

THE BBC is to buy the homes of up to 1,500 staff and give them relocation packages of about £8,000 each as part of plans to shift operations to the North. Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "There is a difference between a smooth move and a plush move at licence fee payers' expense. The generosity of these plans may be welcomed by staff, but it is excessive when considering who is funding the move." - Daily Mail

- Sausage throwing case costs £20,000

A POLICE investigation to prosecute a 12-year-old for throwing a cocktail sausage at a neighbour has cost £20,000...Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "When the police had the authority to give boys a clip round the ear for minor misdemeanours, much less time and money was wasted on pointless court appearances. Taxpayers will never see again the £20,000 that this case has cost.'' - Daily Telegraph

- How many MPs does it take to change a lightbulb?

TPA's Matt Sinclair appeared on ITV News last night, commenting on the news that MPs have been issued with a 10-step guide to clearing up broken light bulbs. See the full report here.

Tuesday December 18

Click here to read the TPA's Christmas Tax report.

Blogs

5.20pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Newspeak takes hold

When people must pretend that closed police stations are open, when "care" is for many synonymous with "abuse" and when "No" votes are interpreted as meaning "yes", it is clear that Newspeak is the new language of the political class, and it is strangling our democracy... - Read More

2.40pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Pensions Black Holes

All of us sympathise with the 130,000 people who lost all or part of their pensions when their companies went bust up to 2003. And all of us can see that they were grossly misled by that stream of official assurances that their final salary pensions were safe (see here for Mail's campaign). But as taxpayers, we need to be quite clear about one thing: once again we're being forced to pay for clearing up a pensions mess largely created by our rulers - Read More

10.10am, Better Government
Matt Sinclair:
They're busy with lightbulbs

The bureaucratic procedure attached to the simple act of clearing up a broken lightbulb is more important than it might seem.  It is important because it demonstrates just how unwieldy the procedures are becoming in too much of the public sector for even the most basic of task - Read More

9.10am, ConservativeHome.com
Mark Wallace:
Transparent Public Spending

Following the launch of USAspending.gov, the TPA's Campaign Director argues Britain should follow America's lead in transparent public spending policies... - Read More

News Round-up

Prison for those failing to safeguard records

Civil servants face being jailed for gross failures to safeguard citizens’ personal information under a clampdown following the disappearance of two discs that held the child benefit records of 25 million people...Government sources told The Times that the offence of wilfully abusing data could carry a maximum term of two years’ imprisonment rather than a fine under plans being considered. - The Times

Tax fraud chief sacked after hiring wife

A senior official responsible for prosecuting people for tax fraud has been sacked after hiring his wife as a £550-a-day consultant. David Partridge, the chief operating officer of HM Revenue and Customs prosecutions office, had his contract terminated last summer following an inquiry into the employment of his wife, Michaela. Mr Partridge's office is in charge of prosecuting tax fraud and other major cases such as drug smuggling and money laundering and his dismissal will add to the concerns over management accountability at Revenue and Customs. - Daily Telegraph

Media Coverage

- PM Gordon's a Scrooge

EVERY family will hand over £225 to the taxman when they go Christmas shopping this year. PM Gordon Brown will rake in a record £5.65billion in VAT on goods ranging from booze to iPhones and even crackers. Only books, food and children’s clothes are exempt. The scale of festive tax is revealed in a study by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. - The Sun

- The Sun Says: Taxing Times

THE taxman will take £5.65billion in VAT on our Christmas shopping this year, says the watchdog Taxpayers’ Alliance. But Chancellor Alistair Darling won’t be counting his chickens... - The Sun

- Brown tax on Christmas

FAMILIES will be hit by an average £225 stealth tax bill this Christmas, it was claimed yesterday...The £225 average family Christmas tax bill was calculated by the TaxPayers’ Alliance campaign group. Mike Denham, a former Treasury economist and author of the report, said: “While Santa Claus is coming down the chimney, Gordon Brown is sneaking through the back door and taking the presents from under the tree.” - Daily Express

- MPs' guide to clearing up broken light bulbs

MPS have been issued with a 10-point guide on what to do if they find a broken light bulb in Parliament...A spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance said the guidelines were "ridiculous'' and a waste of time. He said: "MPs are public servants paid for using public money - have they really nothing better to do than sit around writing guidelines on how to use a dustpan and brush? Politicians are living on another planet. We pay good money into the Government coffers and the very least we expect is good value in return.'' - Daily Telegraph

Monday December 17

Blogs

5.10pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Stoke Council splash out again

Not content with spending thousands of pounds a month on publicity and hiring a new PR exec on a bumper salary, Stoke-On-Trent City Council have outdone themselves again by blowing almost three quarters of a million on refurbishing their offices... - Read More

4pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Down at the nick

Cricklade residents (aka the customers) are angry because their local police station is closed- ie if you go there you find nobody manning the front desk, and even if you shout, nobody comes. But rather than putting it right, North Wiltshire's top cop advises them to pretend the station's functioning properly as it is... - Read More

10.40am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
A lethal dogma

It is pretty clear that a dogmatic insistence that everyone treated by the NHS occupy some nominal single tier is a bit of a joke. Unfortunately, a report in the Sunday Times set out how that joke isn't proving terribly funny for Colette Mills, a former nurse... - Read More

9.20am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Care for cancer patients in Britain expensive and poor quality

The numbers released by the Karolinska Institute suggest that the UK spends 36 per cent more on cancer care than Germany.  Despite that additional spending in the UK a German man diagnosed with cancer has a 25 per cent higher chance of surviving five years... - Read More

News Round-Up

Corporation tax cut called for

A further sharp cut in corporation tax is needed to address the rising business tax burden that has particularly hit smaller businesses, according to manufacturers. Just over half of manufacturing companies said their taxes had risen over the past five years, with one in eight describing the increase as significant, according to a survey by the EEF, the manufacturers' body. It urged the Treasury to cut the corporation tax rate to 25 per cent by 2011 to encourage investment. The cut should be financed by public spending restraint and tax revenues generated by economic growth, it said. - Financial Times

N Ireland tax cut hopes to be dashed

Northern Ireland's hopes of persuading the government to stimulate the local economy with a special low rate of corporation tax will be dashed today when the Varney report into regional tax policy is published. Sir David Varney, a former head of the Revenue & Customs appointed by the government to consider possible changes in tax policy for the province, will today rule out a cut in corporation tax and instead propose various measures to exploit the province's lower operating costs and better telecommunications infrastructure. - Financial Times

Media Coverage

- UK handout funds an ostrich farm in Iran

FAILED asylum seekers have been handed £ 36million to open businesses, including a beauty salon, a vineyard and even an ostrich farm, back in their homelands...Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'Giving failed asylum seekers business grants smacks of rewarding criminality and will act as a honey trap for even more illegal migrants'. - Daily Mail

- Paid for by your taxes: an ostrich farm in Iran and an Albanian vineyard

Matthew Elliott of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said the scheme was an insult to British citizens: “Giving failed asylum seekers business grants smacks of rewarding criminality and sends out completely the wrong message to people contemplating illegal entry into the UK,” he said. “The policy will act as a honey trap for even more illegal migrants.  The unintended consequence of this policy will be to push up the number of illegals, exacerbating the problem and increasing the overall cost to taxpayers.” - Daily Express

- Bonus bonanza for civil servants

Over the past six years, bonuses have almost doubled and the wages bill for senior civil servants has risen from £144m to £250m. Civil servants are also enjoying record pensions. Almost 3,700 have packages worth £1m or more, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance. - Sunday Times

- No cells left for our lags

The number of Polish inmates in prison has trebled in the past two years. And the overall number of foreign crooks behind bars is rising five times faster than that of Brit prisoners. Mark Wallace, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It's ridiculous that overflowing prisons are stuffed with foreign prisoners." - News of the World

Friday December 14

Blogs

5.55pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace
The remarkable transformation of the Millennium Dome

Just a thought - after a week which has seen sell-out and apparently legendary concerts by the reformed Led Zeppelin and The Verve, the O2 (as the Dome has been renamed) is now being described as the world's best entertainment venue... - Read More

3.15pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Crozier vs. Garnier

During the research for a project I'm working on I found myself looking through GlaxoSmithKline's accounts.  Remembering the debate over the Public Sector Rich List I got curious and wondered just how much JP Garnier - the reputedly well-paid boss at a big private company like GSK - gets paid... - Read More

3.10pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Barbara Lockwood - Norwich's tireless low-tax campaigner

Barbara Lockwood is an experienced campaigner for lower taxes, and runs the campaign Folk Against Council Tax (F.A.C.T) as well as being a supporter and active member of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.  She has a great reputation in Norwich battling against greedy government... - Read More 

3pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Police pay - the worst of both worlds

So just let me make sure I've got this right. We're paying our policemen better than they've ever been paid, yet they're going on strike (or at least, intending to come down en masse with Blue Flu)... - Read More

1.45pm, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Essential viewing from the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity

10.10am, Economics 101
Corin Taylor:
Low taxes attract people and businesses

An interesting piece by Arthur Laffer (of the famous "Laffer curve") and Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal shows how US states with higher taxes and regulations have lost people and businesses to states with lower taxes and regulations... - Read More

News Round-up

Police to end hunt for lost HMRC CDs

Police investigating the loss of 25m people’s data by the government are expected to formally abandon their search for the missing discs before Christmas, the Financial Times has learned. Alistair Darling will tell MPs on Monday that the government will implement urgent measures, designed to reduce the risks of future data blunders. But the chancellor will not be in a position to offer a definitive explanation for how the fiasco occurred, according to government insiders. - Financial Times

Home buyers shun HIPs

Home Information Packs have been branded as an unnecessary tax on home sellers after a survey showed that almost no buyers were asking to see them. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said only one per cent of potential buyers was asking to see the contents of a Hip when viewing a property. - Daily Telegraph

Taxman to pay back £3.5million after biscuit blunder

For decades, starting with the introduction of VAT in 1973, Customs and Excise ruled that M&S teacakes covered with chocolate were, in fact, biscuits and therefore subject to tax. But around 20 years later the department admitted a mistake had been made and that chocolate teacakes were really cakes after all. By the time the error was corrected, Marks & Spencer had handed over £3.5million in VAT on its teacake sales, and so demanded the money back. - Daily Express

Media Coverage

- Hospitals 'should be fined for bad patient care'

Matthew Sinclair, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Whether the Primary Care Trust or the hospital pays the cost of treating someone who has fallen victim to poor medical standards the taxpayer will still foot the final bill."

"This proposal might make sense in an insurance-based healthcare system which leaves provision to private companies, as seen in the most successful Continental countries, but not in the NHS as it currently stands. Without that separation between funding and provision we will never get proper incentives for reliable, safe and effective medical care. We would be in the absurd position of robbing Peter to pay Peter." - Daily Telegraph

- Benefit shambles costs £5.3billion

The figures show £2.7billion was estimated to have been lost in 2006-2007, compared to £2.6billion the previous year. Fraud has increased from £600million to £800million. Customer error accounts for £1billion, while official errors make up £900million. A spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance said: "The benefits system is so complicated that not only are officials prone to make mistakes, but it is difficult to spot when morally bankrupt people pull a fast one." - Daily Mail

- Hundreds are let off debts totalling £145k

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said the fact that people still had poll tax bills was in his experience "unique". "It was a pretty mad tax in the first place, and most people assumed that it had been consigned to the dustbin of history," he said. "As a basic rule, councils should do everything possible to chase council tax bills, but there comes a point where it would cost more than it's worth to get the money back," he added. - Lincolnshire Echo

Thursday December 13

Blogs

5.10pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Insensitive 100% hike in council burial charges

Funeral costs and, increasingly, inheritance tax put huge financial strain on bereaved relatives, and now a leading Stafford funeral director has complained to the Staffordshire Newsletter about the 100% inflation in charges from burial and cremation agreed by the borough council... - Read More

12.10pm, Campaign
Tim Aker:
Dispatches from the front line

Braving the cold, several TPA supporters have been active campaigning for lower taxes... - Read More

11.20am, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
School nativity thwarted by bungling bureaucrats

There is little doubt that the staging of a nativity play is a stressful experience, and that the prospect of directing tens of small children to present one of the oldest stories of all time is a daunting one. Well, for the teachers at one school in Shropshire the annual experience has been made all the more traumatic, thanks to the meddling of their local council... - Read More

Media Coverage

- Spin machine costs council £3.5m a year

Haringey Council has increased its spending on "propaganda" more than three-fold in 10 years, a report claims. The council is now in the top 25 boroughs for spending on publicity in Britain, having reportedly invested more than £3.5million last year on publicity, according to the report from the TaxPayers' Alliance, a lower taxation campaign group. - Tottenham Journal

- Councillors on Facebook

Councillors should be given training on how to use the Facebook website to modernise local democracy, according to proposals being considered by the Government.

The Councillors Commission report praises such social networking sites as offering “innovative” new ways of communicating with voters. But TaxPayers' Alliance chief executive Matthew Elliott insisted the public should not be forced to fund the education of representatives in basic skills. - Liverpool Daily Post

- Too much on PR

In 2000/01 the council spent £908,852 on publicity. By 2006/07 they had increased this threefold to £2,866,001. Last year around £400,000 was spent on the Arrow. The year before it was £90,000. Does this increase really represent value? The Taxpayers' Alliance are right; the Labour Council are guilty as charged... - Nottingham Evening Post

- The rising cost of council publicity

Councils in Comet country spent more than £1.2 million on publicity last year. The TaxPayers' Alliance, which has been reviewing local authority expenditure, has revealed that Stevenage Borough Council (SBC), North Hertfordshire District Council (NHDC) and Mid Bedfordshire District Council (MBDC) spent a total of £1,112,882 in 2006-7 - an overall increase of £35,172 compared with the same period 10 years ago. - Beds/Herts Comet

Wednesday December 12

Blogs

2.50pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Putin helps British taxpayers

No wonder they don't want him to retire. This morning President Putin has even found time to help us beleaguered British taxpayers. He's ordered the closure of no fewer than 15 offices of the totally useless quango the British Council... - Read More

11.30am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The police pay deal
The debate currently going on over the police deal isn’t really about the money.  The police themselves will tell you - if you push them on the subject - that they're pretty reasonably paid. This dispute isn't about pay restraint but about the way the Government went about securing pay restraint... -  Read More

9.35am, Better Government
Ben Farrugia:
Building a world class Northampton

The world of quangos is one ripe for ridicule. Unfortunately, the jokes are often expensive ones. Much has already been written on the excesses of some quangos, the massive public expenditure that supports them (nearly £120 billion) and the bizarreness of some of their remits. A case in point is the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation... - Read More 

News Round-up

Red tape keeping police off the streets

Police officers are spending more time filling in forms and less patrolling the streets - despite Government promises to stop them being hampered by red tape. Official figures reveal that 19.7 per cent of their working day is spent on bureaucracy such as filing crime reports, preparing for court, writing letters and sending memos. Only 13.6 per cent is spent on patrol, according to "depressing" statistics... - Daily Mail

£25m bill for empty MOD homes

The Government said it was trying to reduce the housing stock kept for military families after it emerged that more than £25 million a year was spent on rent for unoccupied properties. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said around 7,500 homes were kept vacant for service personnel and their families, at an average annual rent of £3,500 a home. - Daily Express

Media Coverage

- Discraceful

TWO computer discs containing names and addresses of 7,685 motorists have been lost, the Department of the Environment admitted yesterday...Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It is shocking that the public have been let down yet again by a Government agency failing to protect personal information. Inexperienced and ineffective management has led to lax security and poor organisational discipline becoming rife." - Daily Mirror

- Fuel credits and carbon footprint for everyone in energy plan

A personal carbon limit will be set for every person in Britain under plans to cut emissions, it was announced yesterday...Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said he had grave doubts about a personal carbon allowance. Mr Elliott added: "Carbon allowance schemes are costly and complicated to run even between companies or nations. Setting one up to include every individual would be hugely complex and would involve an extremely expensive bureaucracy." - Daily Telegraph

- Councillor in disability payout scam

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It is disgraceful that this woman cynically robbed the taxpayer without a thought for the harm she was doing. Anyone who steals money from hard-pressed taxpayers and deprives genuinely disabled people of much-needed support is beneath contempt – but someone in a responsible position doing so is even worse." - Daily Express

- More personal details go missing on 'lost' discs 

In the latest security breach to hit a Government department, a total of 7,685 vehicle-keepers' addresses, names and car particulars were lost at a Parcelforce depot in Coventry...Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "It is shocking that the public have been let down yet again." - Birmingham Post

- Fury at £175,000 salary

Big salaries paid to council and NHS bosses when public bodies are suffering budget cuts have been condemned by trade unions. A Public Sector Rich List for the last financial year, published by watchdog organisation the Taxpayers' Alliance, included Chris Welsh, medical director and acting chief executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and Bill Lambert, medical director of Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Trust. - Sheffield Star

- Council defends publicity budget

Spending on advertising and publicity by Plymouth City Council has gone up by 250 per cent in a decade, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance. The council's spending has risen from £465,567 in 1996-97 to more than £1.63million in the last financial year. - Plymouth Herald

Tuesday December 11

Blogs

5.50pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
A new head of spin for Stoke-On-Trent City Council

Despite having made headlines in The Sentinel for spending £23,000 on publicity, Stoke-On-Trent City Council have now recruited a new head of public relations and communications on a £75,000 salary... - Read More

12.50pm, 2012 Watchdog
Mike Denham:
Stairway to £20bn

"There's a lady who's sure/ All that glitters is gold/ And she's buying a stairway to heaven". The trouble is, she's buying it with our money. Yesterday she gave us yet another update on progress so far: she's now about halfway up... - Read More

10.10am, 2012 Watchdog
Matthew Sinclair:
Olympics security bill continues to rise

In the bid it was estimated that security for the Olympics would cost £190 million.  That was increased to £600 million with the new budget in March.  Now the Telegraph reports that it has increased again to £1.2 billion... - Read More

News Round-up

The red tape bonfire that they forgot to set alight

A move by Gordon Brown to slash red tape for businesses has failed to scrap a single regulation. Legislation passed last November was heralded as the start of a 'bonfire of regulations'. But in the year since not a single bureaucratic burden has been axed or even amended.

Since Labour came to power, more than 30,000 regulations have been introduced - more than 14 every working day. The average British company has to spend £13,464 a year implementing legislation. - Daily Mail

Media Coverage

- 4,000 ex-civil servants have £1m pension pots

NEARLY 4,000 retired civil servants are enjoying pension pots of more than pounds 1 million, research revealed yesterday.

Figures obtained by the TaxPayers' Alliance under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the total value of retirement funds for elite former Whitehall officials was almost pounds 3.7 billion. - Daily Telegraph

- The £1m mandarins

THOUSANDS of civil servants are retiring with pension funds worth £1million or more. Almost 3,700 have already become '£1million mandarins' - and the number is growing, according to a report published today.

Experts said their retirement benefits were worth 33 times those of the average pensioner in the private sector...Today's report, from the Taxpayers' Alliance pressure group, says public sector pension arrangements are 'unsustainable'. - Daily Mail

- £1m pots for civil servants

Corin Taylor, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, warned that the number of £1million pension pots is set to soar with 123,000 civil servants over 50 working today compared with 88,000 in 1996. - Daily Mirror

- Vote and you could scoop the lottery

PEOPLE could be encouraged to vote by having their name entered in a lottery draw, a report said yesterday...Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

"This report is a manifesto for wasteful, politically correct local government and it won't solve any of the problems faced by councils. People are alienated by high taxes, irrelevant policies and ineffective politicians. That won't be changed by costly gimmicks. What people want is councillors who listen to them, cut taxes and run services efficiently. This report has ignored all those essential needs and has instead focused on more of the same wasteful nonsense that has given local government a bad name." - Daily Express

- Taxpayers foot £280,000 translation bill - Daily Express

- Fury over £1m pension pot for civil servants - Daily Express

- Bad news Jenny...you need to get real

How much would it cost to guarantee "good press", by which I mean flattering and complimentary stories appearing in the media about your company or organisation? Lib Dem council leader Jenny Dawe will be disappointed to discover that the £3.4 million spent by Edinburgh on PR doesn't cover it.

And while The Taxpayers' Alliance pressure group berated the city council for being the highest spending on public relations in Scotland, she was busy justifying it by whining that the council faced "a very antagonistic and personally hostile local press"... - Edinburgh Evening News

Monday December 10

Blogs

2.40pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Crock Escape Plans

At the Northern Crock, taxpayers remain on the hook for £25bn of loans and a further £15bn plus of guarantees for depositors. So what do we now know about the Branson (see this blog) and Luqman Arnold escape plans (see here)? The short answer is precious little... - Read More

11am, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
A Sense Of Shame

Last week your correspondent attended the Public Accounts Committee hearing on MOD's bungled 2003-06 sale of QinetiQ (transcript here and see previous blogs, including here). BOM readers will be familiar with the huge profits made by the purchaser- Carlyle- and the company's executives led by Sir John Chisholm. As you might expect, PAC members launched a heavy attack on the witnesses... - Read More

News Round-Up

Ousted Councillors 'should get £10,000 parachute payment'

COUNCILLORS should receive 'parachute payments' of up to £10,000 from taxpayers if they lose their seats at an election, says a Government-commissioned report.

Pay rises and extra perks are also proposed by a Labour-dominated advisory body in an attempt to make local government more attractive...The plea from the Councillors' Commission for more money came despite the fact that councillors are pocketing rises worth twice the rate of inflation. Last year the average local politician took home allowances of £9,300 - rising to more than £20,000 in some inner- city authorities. - Daily Mail

101,000 addicts get 'sick' benefit

The number of junkies and alcoholics on sickness benefits has doubled to 101,000, figures show. They pocket up to £81.35 a week in state handouts because they say they are too hooked on drugs or booze to work. The numbers have soared despite Government pledges to get tough over incapacity benefit. - The Sun

Media Coverage

- Brown is cashing in as petrol rockets

Motorists already contribute about £45billion to the Treasury in car-related taxes and the figures were last night attacked by the Taxpayers' Alliance.

Campaigns director Mark Wallace said: "The motorist has paid through the nose to the Government for years now. With rising fuel prices and cripplingly higher taxation this problem will only get worse. People are sick of the Government treating them as cash cows to be tapped for money at any and every opportunity. Bearing in mind the huge amount paid into the Treasury, motorists see little or no benefit." - Daily Express

- Home Office to blame for asylum delays

Up to three asylum and immigration appeals a day are being postponed.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "The Home Office needs to get its act together. They talk tough but act incompetently. Asylum and immigration appeals should be dealt with swiftly because the people appealing deserve a speedy decision and taxpayers foot the bill while the clock is ticking." - Daily Express

- Get in the running for a quango

The government lists 883 public bodies with, according to the Economic Research Council think tank, total annual spending of Pounds 174billion. Subtract the NHS quangos -mostly hospital and primary-care trusts -and the total is still Pounds 41.5billion. Dan Lewis, research director of the council, complains that while some do a reasonable job, many simply add to bureaucracy. Furthermore, he describes most as "information vacuums" that can pay the executives who run them enormous salaries with little accountability. Last month, the Taxpayers' Alliance published a public-sector "rich list" of 300 executives receiving at least Pounds 150,000 from quangos, government departments and other public bodies. - Sunday Times

- Notebook: Andrew Pierce

At the National Liberal Club this week, the Taxpayers' Alliance won an award as the most innovative European think-tank. The alliance won the award for a campaign waged through the Freedom of Information Act to expose town hall extravagance.

In an age when few people believe politicians who churn out statistics to support their arguments, the TPA, formed in 2004, is a welcome addition to the political scene. It has a simple philosophy: it argues there is a strong moral case for allowing taxpayers to keep a greater share of their income. Who can disagree with that? - Daily Telegraph

- Publicity costs rise by 1,000% in decade

The city council has been criticised for the amount it spends on publicity.

Figures from the Taxpayers' Alliance ranked Nottingham's £3.7m spending on publicity in 2006/07 the 23rd highest among local authorities. The Alliance also claimed the expenditure had increased more than 1,000% in the previous ten years. - Nottingham Evening Post

- The Taxpayers' Alliance slam council's publicity budget

Bedfordshire County Council spent two and a half million pounds on publicity last year. That is equivalent to over £12 for every man, woman and child in the county. In 2006-7, the council spent £2,440,000 on advertising and public relations. The county's district and borough councils rang up a total of just £1,184,008 between them in the same period...The TaxPayers' Alliance aims to battle inefficiency and overspending in all areas of Government. - Luton on Sunday

- A solid foundation?

Corin Taylor, research director for lobby group the Taxpayers’ Alliance, put forward a much bolder means of developing the market. "If parents and patients don’t make perfect decisions, why should we think that a big government department will? You don’t need to manage everything for the future. Suppliers know they will have a revenue stream if they provide a good service." Such a radical increase in the use of market forces to shape public services remains unlikely for the foreseeable future. But – just maybe – it could point to the long-term future of the PFI. - Public Finance Magazine

- £400,000 cost of housing prisoners

Mark Wallace, campaign director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Years of mismanagement and bad planning have led to this prisons crisis, and it is now costing the taxpayer dearly. Politicians have been putting off the important decisions on building new prisons for years, and now we are all paying the price. That Northumbria Police have to set aside cells to make up for the failings of Government is a disgrace." - Newcastle Evening Chronicle

Friday December 7

Blogs

5.45pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy
Stoke spends £23,000 a month 'to keep you in the dark'

Stoke and Staffordshire newspaper, The Sentinel, gave the West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance some great coverage on Tuesday as their own findings about Stoke-On-Trent Council spin coincided with the TPA’s council spending report. We found that Stoke has increased publicity spending by 279% over the last ten years... - Read More

1.50pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair
Wasting children's time

When discussing the education system's poor performance it is common to focus on the costs to the economy, the childrens' concerned and their chance of making their way in the world or even the waste of taxpayers' money thrown at an underperforming system.  However, the education system's failure also wastes huge amounts of the pupil's time... -  Read More

1.15pm, Burning Our Money
Mike Denham:
Burning money at the Carbon Trust

The National Audit Office recently reported on the Carbon Trust (here), and this week the Public Accounts Committee questioned officials from the Trust and Defra.The Carbon Trust likes to describe itself as a private company, but in reality, virtually all its funds come from taxpayers, at a cost of £103.2m pa... - Read More

12.10pm, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Sorting out Southwark

Southwark Council have had a nightmare couple of weeks. Last week they admitted that almost every single one of their departments had gone over budget and predicted above-inflation council tax rises for the foreseeable future. After that bad news, this week the TPA's first Council Spending Uncovered paper revealed that they spend £5million a year on publicity. Their response to the publicity spending report, though, is encouraging... - Read More

11.20am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Who helps the helpers?

A telling fact came out in answer to a parliamentary question from John Leech MP the other day. He asked Caroline Flint, Minister for Employment, how many Job Centre Plus staff had been sacked for not turning up to work in the last year... - Read More

News Round-up

Iain Dale: We need a bonfire of the bureaucrats

It's difficult to pinpoint when the era of "big government" began, but it is sure that government plays a bigger part in the everyday life of the ordinary citizen than ever before. The Blair/Brown decade has seen an explosion in government interference, nanny statism, political correctness and an over-zealous health and safety culture... - Daily Telegraph

Council tax bills 'to reach £1,500 by 2010'

Middle-class families will bear the brunt of predicted council tax rises, as the average bill is set to soar to £1,500 in just three years. The Government confirmed a virtual freeze in the amount of money it gives to town halls to pay for local services, and more affluent areas are to suffer a greater shortfall so will have to raise revenue by putting up their council tax rates. - Daily Telegraph

Which dictator could possibly live in opulence like this...?

Only a greedy dictator would live in a house like this when all about him are starving. The clues are all there in the obscenely luxurious touches in a country that the United Nations says has Africa's worst economy. No wonder Zimbabwe despot Robert Mugabe has banned journalists from reporting on the shame that is his palace at Borrowdale Brooke. - The Sun

Media Coverage

- Anger at top judge's jails snub

Britain's top judge caused outrage yesterday after saying courts should consider the cost before sending crooks to prison. The TaxPayers' Alliance said: "If criminals aren't in jail, we can't walk out in safety. The Treasury should spend more, not less." - Daily Express

- Best of times, worst of times

Let's start on the dark side. Annus horribilis describes it for two different kinds of leading policemen, Sir John Bourn and Sir Ian Blair. The comptroller and auditor general, a sort of financial bobby, leaves under a cloud seeded by excessive expense claims...Hater of the public sector though he is, Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayers Alliance had a good year for raising its profile. - Guardian

- Council fight over spending on 'spin'

Councils have defended themselves against a stinging attack by a taxpayers' group over how much they spend on spin. A claim by the Taxpayers' Alliance that Suffolk County Council poured more than £3million into publicity last year - up 262% on ten years ago - was disputed. - Suffolk Free Press

- County's spending on publicity doubles in past 10 years

Somerset County Council spent £4.2 million on publicity in the past year - more than double the amount spent 10 years ago. And other councils have pumped larger amounts of money into marketing, promoting services and other communications between themselves and residents. A list of authorities' expenditure has been compiled mainly through Freedom of Information Act requests by the TaxPayers' Alliance, a campaign group for lower taxes. - Central Somerset Gazette

- Taxpayers' cash spent on publicity

Councils have been criticised by a watchdog for spending taxpayers' money on publicity. The Taxpayers' Alliance has released a report into local authority spending on publicity - a national average of £985,000 a year. Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: "It's important for council tax payers to see just how their hard-earned money is being spent." - Lincolnshire Echo

- Council defends £600k spend

Carlisle city council chiefs spent almost 15 times more money on publicity than Eden, new figures have shown. Figures collated by pressure group TaxPayers’ Alliance (TA) revealed in 2006/07 the city council forked out £603,000 on promotions and publicity, compared with just £41,211 spent by Eden chiefs and Copeland council’s £104,446. According to the TA, Allerdale’s figures were not available but data for 2005/06 shows that £281,765 was spent. - Carlisle News & Star

- Blunders cost Derriford £18m

More than £18 million has been paid out in clinical negligence cases brought against Derriford Hospital in the past four years, The Herald can reveal...

Mark Wallace, campaign director of the public spending watchdog TaxPayers' Alliance, said NHS 'mismanagement' increased the legal bill, and added: "It is a sorry state of affairs when our health service is making so many serious errors in the way it treats people. Plymouth Hospitals Trust has a duty of care to its patients and to those that fund it."  - Plymouth Herald

Thursday December 6

Blogs

10.15am, Campaign
Tim Aker:
It's paying off

Only mere days after our report highlighted massive overspend in council publicity, Coventry City Council have pledged to lower their publicity spending next year... - Read More

10.05am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
3Rs setback

The Times reports that the government is to overhaul the primary school curriculum after progress in English, Maths and Science stalled.  Earlier this week the PISA reported that we are falling down international rankings and poor performance is starting to show up even in the Government's own tests; debased by teaching to the test and relaxed standards... - Read More

9.30am, Campaign
Mark Wallace:
Great news from Hammersmith & Fulham

Congratulations to Hammersmith and Fulham Council, who have announced today that they are delivering another 3% cut in council tax. Across the country, council tax has doubled in the last ten years and yet councils claim they still don't have enough money. Taxes, they claim, must be raised further. Services, they say, must also be cut. H&F's example gives the lie to all this blather and blarney... - Read More

News Round-Up

Taxman has lost data eight times since merger

David Hartnett, the director general of the HMRC, revealed the other worrying losses yesterday. He told the Treasury select committee there had already been seven instances of data loss regarded internally as "of some significance" since the Inland Revenue and Customs & Excise merged in 2005. That merger has been cited as a possible reason for breaches of security. - Telegraph

£250,000 wasted on M25 traffic cone trial

Motorists have complained after the Highways Agency wasted more than £250,000 on an M25 congestion experiment that created an artificial traffic jam with plastic cones. The trial was supposed to improve traffic flow but has actually resulted in longer journey times. - Telegraph

Jack Straw introduces superjails - but they may not be enough to cope

Three huge jails housing 2,500 inmates each are planned as part of an extra 10,500 prison places announced yesterday to cope with the rising number of offenders. But even this huge £1.2 billion prison building programme may not be enough to meet projections that the jail population could hit more than 100,000 in seven years. - Times

Media Coverage

- Spending millions on publicity is essential

Mark Wallace, of The Tax Payers' Alliance, claims councils should check their priorities. He said: 'We don't claim every penny of this is wasted but there are lots of expenses including magazines that are effectively councils patting themselves on the back. 'And in the age of the internet, council job adverts should be done much more cheaply than advertising in national newspapers. The public want them to prioritise services instead of paying for glossy magazines.' - The Portsmouth News

- Council pays out £1.34m on publicity

Figures obtained from the council by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) show the amount spent annually on publicity has risen by almost 65% in the last 10 years - from £816,000 in 1996/97 to £1.34m a decade later. - Wigan Evening Post

- Council's bill for publicity reaches £4m

Bristol City Council spent nearly £4 million on public campaigns and advertising last year. The authority was the 19th biggest spender on publicity out of more than 450 councils in Britain. Figures gathered by the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) reveal the city council spent four times as much in 2006/7 as it splashed out on publicity 10 years ago. - Bristol Evening Post

- Call for councils to cut £5m cost of publicity

Councils are being urged to cut the amount they spend on publicity after it was revealed authorities in Derbyshire shelled out nearly £5m in the last financial year. The Taxpayers' Alliance compiled the figures for councils across the country and has called for authorities to slash the spending bill and bring down council tax. - Derby Evening Telegraph

- Rap for council publicity spenders

The leader of Coventry City Council, Cllr Ken Taylor, has defended the council's £3.9 million spending on publicity last year. But he has pledged to reduce it by at least £250,000 next year, by producing fewer leaflets and using the internet more. He was responding to criticism from the Taxpayers' Alliance which has drawn up a league table of town hall big spenders. - Coventry Evening Telegraph 

- Fat cats' hefty pay hike shock - South Wales Evening Post

- Council spending on publicity revealed - Braintree Times