Mail Online: BBC accused of ripping off viewers after outlining pay-per-view plan for back catalogue
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Emma Boon, Campaign Director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The idea of creating a paid for BBC archive is worrying as it could create a two-tier licence fee.
‘TV and radio audiences already pay for BBC content through their TV licence and while it is unreasonable to expect the Beeb to make all programmes available forever on the iPlayer, it doesn’t seem fair to charge for content twice.
‘A full archive of previously broadcast work would be a fantastic resource, but the BBC needs to look at other ways of achieving this, Auntie can’t have it both ways and charge twice.’
Mail Online: £2m of aid budget goes to consultants: Ministers are ‘wasting cash’ meant to help Third World
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Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The Department for International Development claims it is spending its rapidly expanding budget on helping the world’s poorest, but instead millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being handed to consultancy firms.
‘While DfID’s budget increases, the rest of the public sector has had to tighten their belts.
‘This is just one area where ministers could reduce spending while still helping those in poverty around the world.
‘Sometimes external expertise can be useful but spending £2million in just over a year looks like a poor deal for taxpayers.’
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Mail Online: Transport bosses spend £2.5m on taking 30,000 staff on tour of the Olympic Park
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The head of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, Matthew Elliott, attacked the decision as ‘incredible’.
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Mr Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: ‘It’s incredible that Tfl bosses think it’s right to spend millions in taxpayers’ money for staff to have a wander around the Olympic Park and watch videos promoting the games.
‘Spending on the Olympics has almost trebled since it was first announced. Hidden extras like this have all added to the cost to taxpayers.
‘Transport chiefs need to find more cost effective ways to prepare for the Olympics.’
Huffington Post UK: Pilgrims Bill by Jessie Norman defeated by Labour in Commons
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Jonathan Isaby, Political Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said that the group would “continue to press ministers vigorously” on the issue despite the bill being rejected:
“It was rich of John Healey to accuse the TaxPayers’ Alliance of ‘inaccurate briefing’, given that any inaccuracies in the data we have published only come from a failure on the part of unions and some public sector organisations properly to record the facility time taken during working hours.
“As a result, the figures we have been able to collate are in fact likely to be an underestimate of the taxpayer subsidy to the unions. We have no quarrel with trade unions working to represent their members, but it is those members – not the taxpayer – who should be funding those activities.”
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