Responding to the Queen’s Speech, Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:
“Some positive measures have been overshadowed by an embarrassingly weak Recall Bill. This stitch-up will do nothing to restore the trust of voters in politics. It will centralise more power in Westminster, rather than handing it to voters.
“Other measures will make local government and quangos more accountable, and save taxpayers’ money. But the fudge on recall means that the Coalition has missed a tremendous opportunity to leave British democracy a true legacy.”
On specific measures of the speech, he added:
On new powers for voters to recall MPs
“True right of recall was included in the Coalition Agreement, and the proposed legislation is nothing more than a weak imitation. In a democracy, voters should have the final say, not a committee of MPs. That politicians are scared of 'kangaroo courts' only underlines how detached they are from the concerns of ordinary people."
On the crackdown on senior public sector officials returning to other well-paid public sector jobs
“Shutting down the public sector merry-go-round is fantastic news for taxpayers. For too long, ordinary people have been footing the bill for huge redundancy payouts, only to see the employees in question back in similar jobs just weeks later.”
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has exposed numerous examples of the merry-go-round:
The Deputy Chief Executive given a £370,000 redundancy package in Yorkshire - and moving to a Director's role in London soon after;
The Comms Chief given a six-figure redundancy package before picking up the same job somewhere else.
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