By: Shimeon Lee, researcher As students head off to university this September, they are entering a higher education system that has changed considerably in the last year. Due to the tightening of immigration rules by the previous government, the market for international students has shrunk, and thus, so have university... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns Sir Keir Starmer in his first speech as prime minister pledged a “return of politics to public service.” Whether or not his early weeks in government have demonstrated this promise made on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street, there’s no doubt that this... Read more...
Guest blog by Andrew RT Davies, Leader of the Opposition in the Welsh Parliament Public services in Wales are far below the standard we expect. NHS waiting lists are longer than in the rest of the UK. Standards in our schools are lower. And vital infrastructure projects, like the much-needed M4... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns As Labour relax on their four hundred and eleven seats in the House of Commons, the challenge for the Conservatives is to figure out how to redeem themselves. They lost a shocking 244 seats at the election. And with Rishi Sunak stepping down... Read more...
By: Jonathan Eida, researcher The UK is experiencing death by debt. As the Taxpayers’ Alliance new debt clock tool shows, debt is continuing to tick higher and higher without any reprieve. Currently, the debt clock shows the national debt at over £2.5 trillion, and is rapidly increasing at a rate... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns We at the TaxPayers’ Alliance have no dog in the fight which is the Conservative leadership election, but we certainly take an interest. After all, the next leader of the opposition could be the prime minister one day, so their views on tax, spend... Read more...
By: Reem Ibrahim, communications officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs “This is what we believe!” declared then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as she slammed her copy of F. A. Hayek’s ‘Constitution of Liberty’ onto the table at a Conservative Party policy meeting. This level of fortitude and... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns Upon being sworn in for a third term as Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan pledged “to help make London the best city in the world to grow up in.” Why it wasn’t already so given his eight-years in office is a question for another... Read more...
By: Shimeon Lee, researcher The TPA has been at the forefront of campaigning on the issue of trade union facility time ever since we first uncovered how much trade union “pilgrims”, as they became known, were costing taxpayers in groundbreaking research we published in 2010. Our latest research reveals the... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, researcher Last week the general election brought the change in residency at number 10 that all of us were expecting, but it’s the new occupant of number 11 that has made the biggest policy announcement of the new government so far. On Tuesday, Rachel Reeves, the... Read more...
While the last few months may have been bustling with promises of change, in the real world, waste has been running rampant! Naturally, as Britain’s waste watchdog, the TPA team have been keeping on top of it all, from the woke to the blatantly bizarre. Here are a few highlights... Read more...
By: Rory Meakin, research fellow The polls open this week and voters will cast their votes to decide who represents them in parliament and, by extension, who forms a new government. So what do the manifestos say about issues important to us as taxpayers? At the TaxPayers’ Alliance, we... Read more...
By Shimeon Lee, researcher Junior doctors went on strike this week for the 11th time since March 2023, demanding a 35 per cent pay rise on top of an 8.8 per cent pay award they received in 2023-24. The British Medical Association (BMA), a trade union representing doctors, argues that... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns It’s currently English wine week. This has got me thinking of a wine bar, in the neighbourhood of Cedofeita, Porto. It’s an unassuming place, perched at a fork in the road, and with tables and chairs spilling out under a simple but elegant... Read more...
By Shimeon Lee, researcher Labour and the Conservatives released their manifestos this week setting out their spending plans while ruling out major tax rises. Both parties are instead choosing to rely on economic growth, and the accompanying growth in tax receipts, to deliver on their spending pledges. While the Office... Read more...
By: William Yarwood, media campaign manager With the election well underway, politicians have come out swinging with bright and shiny new policies in an effort to win your vote. The most recent addition to the policy pile is the Conservatives’ annual cap on immigration, an attempt to show voters... Read more...
By: Joanna Marchong, investigations campaign manager The benefits system plays a part in most people’s lives at some point, whether it's small payments to help with heating homes, money to live on when in between jobs or the state pension. The system is designed to cater to the genuinely needy... Read more...
By: Callum McGoldrick, researcher According to the Office of National Statistics, 430,104 shoplifting offences were committed last year, a rise of 37 per cent from last year and the highest level on record. When asked about shoplifting on LBC News last week, Archie Norman, the chairman for Marks & Spencer,... Read more...
By: Shimeon Lee, researcher Over the past decade growth in public sector spending has been monumental. The average person would find it difficult to understand the sheer scale of public spending when looking at official statistics. Spending by government departments often runs into the tens and even hundreds of billions,... Read more...
By: Benjamin Elks, grassroots development manager Early last year we launched a campaign to ditch the diversity demagogues, to channel the endless fury of taxpayers towards the massive cost being imposed by the EDI industry on the public sector. The tens of thousands of people who signed our petition... Read more...
By: Kristian Niemietz, editorial director and head of political economy at the Institute of Economic Affairs In the 18th and 19th centuries, public spending and taxation in Britain were only a fraction of what they are today. The main drivers of current-day government spending, such as healthcare, education, and... Read more...
By: Jonathan Eida, researcher at the TaxPayers’ Alliance It has been a long time since Britain shook off the label of the sick man of Europe. The strong economic growth that developed over the course of a number of decades spanning the eighties, nineties and noughties helped alter the... Read more...
By: Elliot Keck, head of campaigns So, the Rwanda bill has passed. Two years on from the scheme being announced, we’re finally going to see flights take off. Taxpayers will get to see whether a key plank of the government’s plan to tackle illegal immigration will actually work. The... Read more...
By William Yarwood, Media Campaign Manager With World War 3 supposedly on the horizon, defence spending has become the latest political football which politicians of all colours have been taking their best shot at kicking around. Conservative MPs, including Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, have been insisting that the government needs... Read more...