Blogs

6.00pm, Campaign: Latest TPA Email Bulletin - this has just been sent out to thousands of TPA supporters updating them on the campaign...

1.00pm, Burning our Money:  The Land of Golden Goodbyes -

"The reality is, as we've said many times, you wouldn't trust the average government department to run a whelk stall. Hopeless at strategy, hopeless at planning, and hopeless at execution. That's pretty well a clean sweep."

11.00am, West Midlands: So long regional government? - we should welcome moves to scrap Prescott's expensive and undemocratic legacy even if vestiges of regional government will remain.

10.19am, Economics 101:  Further evidence of tax credit failures - yesterday the National Audit Office refused to sign off on HMRC's accounts "due to levels of claimant error and fraud in the tax credits system".

00.01am, Better Government: "Beyond the Dome:  Government Projects £23 billion over budget" - new TaxPayers' Alliance report on the extent of public sector cost overruns.

Media Coverage

- Public overspend costs each household £900
- Brown listens, but doesn't learn: instead he just chases the votes

"The report concludes: "This stems from a failure properly to specify what is desired from a project before the project begins, underestimating costs to get the project approved and paying over the odds in an attempt to solve the problem."

Gordon, are you still listening?"

- £23bn lost on state projects

-  Every household pays £900 a year to cover bungled Government projects

"Matthew Sinclair, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "These figures expose a consistent pattern of poor project management.

"Taxpayers are footing the bill for the failure of politicians and civil servants to manage large projects effectively."

Experts said the problems stemmed from a failure by departments to specify exactly what they wanted, underestimating costs to get a project approved and paying over the odds in an attempt to solve the problem."

- They spend - and we pay
- We're footing a £23bn bill for blunders

"As the Alliance notes, most politicians and senior civil servants have little experience of managing large projects.  The constant shuffling of ministers between departments also mitigates against them picking up specialist knowledge and allows them to escape accountability for budgetary disasters."

- Taxpayer 'Footing 14 Domes'

"Chairman Andrew Allum said:  "It's astounding the government is currently overseeing more than a dozen Domes.

"It's clear the politicians and civil servants in charge lack the management experience and subject knowledge to run them effectively"."

  - Brown embarassed as £1bn in mistaken tax credits paid

"MISMANAGED government projects cost every British household £900 a year, according to independent research. On average, project costs were over-running a third more than original estimates, costing tens of billions more than budgeted for, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance."

- Budget overruns costing taxpayers

- Immigrants are better citizens than the British (says quango boss who gets £13m from you the taxpayer)

"Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance pressure group, said:"Mr Best's comments are completely offensive to decent, patriotic people born in the UK.

"Taxpayers shouldn't be funding an outfit that describes them as being second-rate citizens.

"If the Immigration Advisory Service is to continue receiving public money, Mr Best should either apologise or resign.""

- Migrants 'better than the British'

"Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "Mr Best's comments are completely offensive to decent, patriotic people born in the UK.

"Taxpayers shouldn't be funding an outfit that describes them as being second-rate citizens.

"If the Immigration Advisory Service is to continue receiving public money, Mr Best should either apologise or resign.""

News Round-Up

Rail Industry admits it's often greener for families to travel by car

"It can be greener to drive than catch the train, according to a rail industry study which reveals that trains are losing their environmental advantage.

Modern diesel-powered trains are so polluting that a family of three or more would be responsible for at least double the carbon dioxide emissions on many routes when travelling by rail compared with driving in a typical medium-sized car.

The study concludes that the Virgin Voyager, the most advanced diesel train on the network, has the highest emissions of any British train and that its performance compared with cars is steadily worsening as motor manufacturers improve efficiency." - Times

Cancer fast track scheme is causing longer waits

"A fast-track system for urgent suspected cases of breast cancer is being overwhelmed by the worried well, leaving thousands of women with genuine breast cancer anxiously waiting a month or more to see a specialist, a study reveals.

An estimated 8,800 women a year who are eventually diagnosed with breast cancer are labelled "routine" cases under the system, waiting for weeks despite increasing numbers of other women being fast-tracked to a consultant, it says.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) article calls for an urgent overhaul, saying the government's 1999 target of a two-week wait for urgent cases has created an "alarming" two-tiered system of treatment. "The system is failing patients and a change is urgently needed," the paper says." - Guardian

Five-minute lessons in school reforms

"Michael Reiss, director of education at the Royal Society, said there was a risk the reforms would fail to increase the number of pupils studying science or maths.

Civitas, the independent think tank, described it as "another indication of the way in which schools are being used to do everything except transmit knowledge".

Robert Whelan, its deputy director, said the curriculum had become a battleground for pressure groups. "The elite groups which run education turn their current concerns into subjects which have to be taught in the classroom, forcing out the important knowledge and facts."" - Telegraph