The TaxPayers' Alliance - North East

NHS secrecy

An NHS Trust in Newcastle has decided to ban the public from meetings.  The Journal reported today that Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has barred people from meetings and is now the only foundation hospitals trust in the region to bar members of the public from attending monthly board meetings and viewing the board papers.

As a foundation trust, the hospital management have effectively been rewarded in the past with greater autonomy over how they operate, and like for most public services in the North East (or anywhere else), independence from the politicians in London is usually a good thing.  But this independence shouldn't translate into less openness with the public they serve.

At a time of cutbacks and reorganisations, the only way to placate public anger and concern about the NHS is to be full and frank about the realities of NHS reform and what this will mean for patients.  This is about the worst time to be shutting the public out.

Welcome to NETPA

Welcome to The North East TaxPayers' Alliance (NETPA) - a new campaign to represent people in the North East who want to see lower taxes, less waste, and politicians removed from the management of public services. We want to see real power for local people and the abolition of the Regional Assembly - an expensive, unaccountable talking shop that has no powers.

Read our launch statement in our news release (Pdf).

The North East TaxPayers' Alliance is independent of any political party. It is run by the same people who ran the successful 'No' campaign in the 2004 referendum on the North East Regional Assembly. The launch of NETPA is the first in a programme of expansion across the country by the national TaxPayers' Alliance to give every area of Britain its own local voice for taxpayers.

• To read the NETPA launch leaflet click here (Pdf).

We have over a thousand supporters and a Council of over fifty leading figures from across the North East, such as:

Terry Chapman, Managing Director, Helmsman Ltd
Hugh Cheswright, Managing Director, Alcazar PR
Dr. Barrie Craven, Reader, Newcastle Business School
Sir Tom Cowie, Honorary Life President, Arriva Plc
Ian Dormer, Director, Rosh Engineering
John Elliott, Chairman, EBAC Ltd Bent Henriksen, Managing Director, Pharma Nord UK
Anthony Robson, Managing Director, Abbey Well
Lord Vinson, Director, Fleming High Income Growth Trust

• To see a full list of NETPA Council Members, click here (Pdf).

Our mission is to build a grassroots network that can develop new ideas and give a voice to teachers, doctors, business people and all those who want to make services independent of politicians and lower taxes to bring prosperity to the North East. We will campaign against those politicians who want to keep control of services and keep taxes high.

Over the coming months, we will begin the campaign to highlight waste and mismanagement in government and public services, and press the case for lower taxes for families.