Friday May 23

MPs Expenses

After scrutinising the newly released detailed expenses claims of 14 MPs that were released this afternoon, Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:

“It’s clear that this allowance pays for much more than just a base in London – MPs use it to fund a lifestyle far more comfortable than their constituents enjoy. Taxpayers should not be made to pay for Gordon Brown’s Sky TV subscription or Tony Blair’s £10,000 kitchen. Given the economic climate and the fact that everyone’s feeling poorer, it’s high time MPs reined in the amounts they spend. It is costly for taxpayers and harmful to the standing of Parliament for them to use expenses to live the high life.”

Blogs

6.00pm, West Midlands
Fiona McEvoy:
Taxpayers fund desperate bus project

What cost Birmingham City Council and Aston Pride £336,000 to fund, is staffed by six and boasts fifteen computer stations along with broadband and satellite technology? - Read More

5.00pm, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The efficiency drive that cost £80 million

There are similarly expensive and delayed IT systems in most of the government departments.  A year ago we identified lots of them in our report (PDF) on big government projects.  What a farce... - Read More

3.30pm, Campaign
Matthew Elliott:
The week that taxes took centre stage

This week has fired the starting gun - the crowd are roaring, the engines are screaming and the flag has just gone up. It'll be a race to remember... - Read More

11.15am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
Boris Johnson's new right-hand man

That's exactly the right attitude - focussed on value for taxpayers.  Hopefully he will realise that the best way to make that happen is to return as much control over London's public services as possible back to Londoners... - Read More

8.45am, Better Government
Matthew Sinclair:
The logic of collective action taken to a bizarre extreme

We need to decentralise and hand decisions back to individuals so that powerful special interests cannot take advantage of us... - Read More

Media Coverage

- Empty your own bins... it's too risky for us

"Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This is a total dog’s dinner. Do the council really expect pensioners to lug around bottles rather than the binmen doing it?” - Full Article

- Why more and more of us are losing faith in the police

"Matthew Elliot, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Many police spin doctors are paid more than policemen and women and they never put their lives on the line. The excessive spending on PR is not only wrong, it's a waste of taxpayers' money.'" - Full Article

- Long arm of police spin doctors costs almost £40m a year

"Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, was fiercely critical of the increasing spending on marketing and PR. “Many police spin-doctors are paid more than policemen and women and they never put their lives on the line. This excessive spending on PR is not only wrong, it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said." - Full Article

- Police spend £40m on 'spin doctors'

"Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Many police spin doctors are paid more than policemen and -women and they never put their lives on the line.

"This excessive spending on PR is not only wrong, it's a waste of taxpayers' money." - Full Article