By Phil Basey, head of research This week Britain ground to a halt. The snow saw schools closed and motorways not gritted. Strikes shut down the railways. Post not being delivered. Bus drivers walking out. Driving examiners on strike. And of course, nurses too. As ever when these... Read more...
By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager With all the waste we uncovered in October you may have thought that November would bring some relief. Unfortunately, this latest update on our War on Waste campaign makes for no easier reading. Because in our latest investigations it seems public sector... Read more...
By Benjamin Elks Campaigns for clean air are very on trend among urban councils at the moment. Understandably so - pollutants in the air have a damaging effect on health and there are legal limits in place for emissions that councils must achieve. A particular favourite way for... Read more...
Watch any government minister being interviewed on TV these days, and you can play a game of politics bingo. Any mention of the NHS, they’ll start on about extra X billions - tick. Why are public finances in a mess? Well, there was the covid pandemic you know - got... Read more...
Despite weeks of expectation management, the fiscal statement was even more painful for taxpayers than we anticipated. There may not have been any surprise giveaways, but there were plenty of stealth takeaways. Here’s five things the chancellor doesn’t want you to know about his measures today: 1. This... Read more...
By Benjamin Elks At the end of October, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) released the 50th edition of their annual Good Beer Guide (GBG). The guide is packed with recommendations for finding a tasty pint in a pub near you. But sadly, a lot has changed in... Read more...
By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager October was a month of horrors. And no, not just Halloween. But the prospect of tax rises are set against the backdrop of another bumper month of TPA waste-gathering. Some claim there’s no more fat to be trimmed. Taxpayers must think they live... Read more...
Earlier this month another controversy rocked the embattled charity Mermaids, when a Trustee was found to have given a speech to a paedophile aid group. While the charity has been in the news a lot recently, its long-standing connection to public bodies since 2012 has flown under the radar. Earlier... Read more...
by Dr. Mike Jones, researcher As we’ve written before, inflation is the ultimate stealth tax. We all feel the effects of it when we buy our weekly shopping, fill up our cars, or pay our energy bills. On Wednesday, it was announced that consumer price index (CPI) inflation for... Read more...
One of the major criticisms levelled by many towards the BBC is its ability (or lack thereof) to maintain impartiality. This is usually most evident by the political affiliations of the guests it has on - often failing to declare they are activists for major political parties. However, there are... Read more...
by Benjamin Elks, fundraising, operations and events assistant Over the summer, taxpayers across the country had to deal with industrial unrest. But this was not the end of the story, with a fresh round of strikes already underway and set to get worse during the Conservative Party Conference starting... Read more...
By Duncan Simpson, chief economist at the TaxPayers’ Alliance It’s been a crazy fortnight. It feels like a lifetime ago, but it was only the start of this month that the new government under Liz Truss announced a massive state intervention in the energy market. And now we may... Read more...
By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance The death of Her Majesty The Queen has been refreshingly free of political debate. Outside of the fringes, most have come together in a touching display of affection and respect for a job well done and a life well... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance mourns the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We join the whole nation in thanking her for a life of exemplary service. The loss to the country is immeasurable. But the loss is also felt personally, by those whose lives she touched in some way. ... Read more...
The Tory leadership contest has resurrected an age-old debate about the best economic policy to tackle rising prices. There’s been a lot of commentary in the media about the danger of cutting taxes at a time when inflation is spiralling out of control. Rishi Sunak recently claimed that Liz... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance Purchasing a home is stressful at the best of times, for a multitude of reasons. One of which is finding the money to pay Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT). To many it seems ludicrous that you have to pay a... Read more...
By Harry Fone, Grassroots Campaign Manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance Today marks the end of A-Level results week, a time of elation for some and disappointment for others. It’s no wonder that this is such an emotional week for young hopefuls, given that A-Level grades are the gatekeepers for... Read more...
By Joanna Marchong Following weeks of dry weather across the country, many water companies have issued hosepipe bans and encouraged consumers to conserve supplies. A lot of media attention has been focused on the amount of water lost to leaks by water providers. As Robert Colvile rightly wrote recently, “The... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance The cost of living crisis shows no signs of abating. Millions of households across the country are facing rising bills. Many of them rely on their cars to do the weekly shop, ferry the kids around and everything in between... Read more...
By Tom Ryan, researcher Back in May 2020, at the dawn of the coronavirus pandemic, TPA researcher Scott Simmonds wrote that “instead of focusing on the more important remit of planning and preparing for health emergencies, PHE has been the ultimate embodiment of the nanny state”. Since then, Public... Read more...
There’s been a big (Twitter) row about the policy of regional pay bargaining, which we detailed at the weekend. It was initially adopted by Liz Truss’ leadership campaign, who now say they won’t take the proposal forward. Some have claimed the policy is a “massive pay cut” (simply not true);... Read more...
by Benjamin Elks, Fundraising, Operations and Events Assistant at the TaxPayers' Alliance It’s a challenging time for everyone. Inflation is running at almost 10 per cent and the tax burden is due to reach a 70 year high. So it’s understandable that people want some relief and a pay rise... Read more...
by Joanna Marchong Last week, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) released new stats on the state of the public sector finances for June 2022. These figures show that almost a year after the pandemic, we still have high spending levels, an equally shocking level of borrowing and significant... Read more...
by Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager The TaxPayers’ Alliance has long called for serious, far reaching reform of public service broadcasting. We have railed against wasteful spending at the BBC and challenged the organisation on its establishment outlook, which often ignores the concerns of typical taxpayers and tends towards... Read more...