Some of you may remember that back in November, upon learning about the top rate of income tax was being increased to 45%, I said that Alistair Darling had sounded the death knell of ambition in this country. Well today, things just got a whole lot worse. The Chancellor... Read more...
No-one expected Sir Ken Boston's session with the Commons' Children, Schools and Families Committee to be dull, but few probably expected him to go as far he did. Ed Balls (the DCSF secretary of state) was accused of 'sexing up' evidence given to an inquiry into the SATs fiasco, and... Read more...
Government ministers have led the pack in condemning banks for failing to come clean about the true value of the toxic assets on their balance sheets. But is the Government any better itself? Alistair darling has claimed to be “transparent” in confessing that the banking bailout will cost us... Read more...
Despite earlier government assurances, taxpayer losses on bank bailouts are going to be huge. Yesterday, the IMF said that UK taxpayers can expect to lose £200bn, or 13.4% of our GDP. Needless to say, the government's version is rather different. Indeed, they were so embarrassed by the IMF's figure that... Read more...
Following the release of further details, please see comments below this blog. Today, the Chancellor announced plans to compensate owners of vehicles over 10 years old who scrap those cars with £2000 toward the purchase of a new vehicle. The number of cars over ten years old in the... Read more...
Darling's budget projections are based on some wholly implausible assumptions about public spending. Post the next election he forecasts that current spending growth will fall to 0.7% pa in real terms (2011-12 onwards). That's a virtual halving from the 1.2% pa he incorporated in November's Pre-Budget Report. Yet while real... Read more...
Frightening statistics from today's budget for 2009 reveal the extent of Brown's debt mountain. The revised borrowing figures for the public sector between the years 2008-09 to 2013-014 exceed the combined real terms (RPI-adjusted) borrowing required to defeat Napoleon (1793-1815), the Kaiser (1914-1918) and Hitler (1939-1945). The TPA understands that... Read more...
In his Budget speech, Alistair Darling announced a number of policies that he hopes will support growth in green industries. The key measure is "£1bn to help us combat climate change, by supporting low carbon industries and green collar jobs." Those industries already get massive subsidies through policies such... Read more...
There should be a health warning on the Chancellor’s forecast; “Do not believe.” Fair enough, the fall in UK GDP of 3.5 per cent for 2009 looks reasonable but, for the economy to achieve growth of 1.75 per cent in 2010 it would require an extraordinarily vigorous bounce back, which... Read more...
In response to the 2009 Budget Speech, which committed British taxpayers to record levels of debt, TaxPayers' Alliance Chief Executive Matthew Elliott said:“This Budget commits taxpayers to a terrifying amount of debt that will burden ordinary families for decades to come. The Government’s proposals are totally inadequate to deal with... Read more...
John Redwood makes a powerful case that the Chancellor needs to force the public sector to live within its means: Read more...
This morning the unemployment figures have sadly gone up yet again, now at 2.1 million. As the government continues to squeeze the productive sector of the economy, it spends your money on subsidising expensive non-jobbers. Our pick of the non-job of the week from the 460+ jobs on offer... Read more...
At last the Government has woken up to the severity of public anger over abuse of MPs' expenses. For a while they seemed to think it was just a nightmare that would vanish when they turn the bedside lamp on, but finally the true reality has sunk in. Harriet Harman... Read more...
Dan Mitchell, in a video for the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity, makes a powerful case that big government breeds corruption. The same thing is going on here, the sort of dodgy lobbying that Dispatches discussed this weekend is the result of Government decisions becoming so economically important, in terms of the... Read more...
Just as new red route proposals are threatening to damage trade throughout the West Midlands, Sandwell Council will also be introducing new car parking charges to the town of Wednesbury where business owners are already struggling due to the recession. Sandwell MBC may have hit upon a new way... Read more...
Last year's SATs fiasco has been discussed at some length on this page before, both in terms of why it arose, as well identifying those who should take responsibility. Read more...
Last week an observant TPA supporter noted that while the West Midlands Fire Service are busy fitting out a new £23million base for their control centre staff, literally just across the road the ill-fated i54 technology park - a 220 acre regeneration project run by Wolverhampton City Council - lies vacant... Read more...
It has been reported this week that the Government is considering a new proposal to reduce or withdraw benefits from alcoholics who will not go into rehab. A similar scheme has been rolled out for heroin and crack users, and appears to be producing concrete improvements in treatment rates. It would... Read more...
Since the release of the Town Hall Rich List 2009 last week, several councils have responded with information that does not appear in the report. Some of these councils are responding for the first time, and some responded following appeals for further information. As this information was not published in... Read more...
Today the TPA and our supporters were at the Haywards Heath magistrates’ court – along with some members of Isitfair – to support Terry Reilly who was protesting his above inflation council tax bill today.Below you can read Terry's powerful statement that sums up the iniquity, incoherence and injustice associated... Read more...
You may recall that a few weeks ago I was invited to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead to witness their decision to become the first transparent council in Britain by publishing details of all theri spending ove £500. I'm pleased to report that the bug appears to be... Read more...
Yesterday the Express & Star broke the news that as many as 80 new red routes could be initiated on West Midlands roads by 2015, despite the furious objection of many traders who fear these ‘no-stopping zones’ could devastate their business. Some 260miles of red routes would cost taxpayers... Read more...
You can apply for any number of the 426 jobs on offer in government this week. You can see a breakdown of sector and salary bands in the table on the right taken from the Guardian jobs website. Our non-job of the week comes from Surrey County Council: ... Read more...
It's been a tumultuous weekend for Derek Draper (and his self-declared "mate" Damian McBride). McBride has rightly resigned for using taxpayer time and resources to make up obscene and untrue smears for Draper's latest blog project, "Red Rag", to spread. It's good news that McBride will be leaving office not only in disgrace but... Read more...