By Jeremy Hutton, policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance Following years of unabated campaigning by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, the UK’s international development budget has been cut, and rightly so. Just as our polling from 2019 showed, taxpayers have supported this, recognising what many politicians do not: that an over-sized aid... Read more...
By Sara Rainwater, Operations Director Buying a home is one of the most exciting - yet often most stressful - times in a person’s life. The overly complex buying and selling process in England can take its toll on even the most resilient of people. I’ve moved country, done... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance The National Audit Office published its report on government procurement during the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday. It highlights a number of issues around public sector procurement - of which the TPA has long called for serious reform. But just how... Read more...
Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant British businesses have been dragged kicking and screaming back into a nationwide lockdown. Many shops, pubs and restaurants will sadly close their doors forever. The health of Britain's economy is in a desperate state. This is also true of an entire generation of young people... Read more...
Duncan Simpson, research director Popular Netflix series The Crown has gripped viewers around the world. It is a homage to the life of Queen Elizabeth II, detailing the history of 20th century Britain and cementing the relevance of the monarchy as a cultural and political asset of the nation.... Read more...
Rory Meakin, research fellow of the TaxPayers' Alliance The Resolution Foundation published Unhealthy finances yesterday, a report which highlights the fiscal damage being wreaked by coronavirus and makes the case for an austerity package to fall largely on taxpayers in middle Britain. Significant effort has clearly been put into it,... Read more...
By Duncan Simpson, research director of the TaxPayers' Alliance The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has published its report on overhauling capital gains tax. Much of the press coverage rightly presents the recommendations as radical. But the report itself is more measured than is often suggested. Most of the... Read more...
By Scott Simmonds, researcher at the TaxPayers’ Alliance With public sector net borrowing totalling £36.1 billion in September, the financial difficulty the UK is storing up for future taxpayers cannot be ignored. Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility show that the UK deficit so far has already topped... Read more...
By Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant Time and time again, local authorities are caught red handed by the TaxPayers’ Alliance wasting taxpayers’ money and raising taxes - giving ratepayers a rotten deal. So when the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government commissioned Sir Tony Redmond to review the transparency... Read more...
By Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant. Lockdown has two sides: the very personal tale of socially distanced interaction with family and friends, and the sobering effect these measures have had on our jobs and the wider economy. But in some cases, the personal and the economic impacts of the government's... Read more...
By Michael Swadling of the Croydon Constitutionalists Did you know councils can’t go bankrupt? No matter how much of taxpayers’ money they risk on dodgy investments, mismanagement and harebrained schemes, they’re always protected from total financial collapse. The only way to stop councils spending reckless sums is by issuing... Read more...
By Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant For many people, these political party conferences have been a busted flush. A series of pre-planned and therefore pointless speeches, delivered deadpan to a webcam. But as we face the worst recession in Europe, what the Prime Minister has to say about the... Read more...
In the past, the mention of a four day working week may have transported you back to the horrors of 1970s socialism or Edward Heath’s infamous three day week. But all such gloomy imagery has largely disappeared. In 2020, a four day week is firmly on the political agenda. ... Read more...
First there was ‘New Labour’ and now there's ‘New Leadership’, with Sir Keir Starmer turning on the charm offensive in a bid to bag your vote. But does Keir's Labour Party do what it says on the tin? Has he abandoned the hardline socialist platform the party stood on in... Read more...
By Duncan Simpson, research director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance First, the schools shut up shop. Then came the exams fiasco. The last thing worried parents needed this summer was uncertainty about term times. But little did that matter to the senior shop stewards in the teaching unions, determined to... Read more...
by Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance This crisis has confirmed many home truths. Always wash your hands. You can always trust the government to waste money. When the chips are down, don’t expect nanny state quangocrats to know what they’re doing. There’s no such thing... Read more...
by Kieran Neild, grassroots assistant at the TaxPayers' Alliance The TPA has tirelessly campaigned to cut back the quangocracy. We recognise that quangos are unaccountable, a burden to the taxpayer and often not fit for purpose. David Cameron's promise of a bonfire of quangos in 2010 has been well... Read more...
by Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance. Since High Speed 2 (HS2) was first imagined the TaxPayers’ Alliance has doggedly campaigned against this monstrosity of a transportation project. As I’ve said on many occasions, HS2 has consistently over-promised and under-delivered, which is exactly why it should... Read more...
By Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant The TaxPayers’ Alliance receives amazing support from thousands of people. Whether it's small business owners angry at business rates, students campaigning to axe the BBC licence fee, a potential homeowner worried about stamp duty or a pensioner suffering under another inflation-busting council tax rise... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance It’s nearly three weeks since the government launched the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme designed to give a much needed boost to the hospitality sector. Early indications suggest it is working, albeit at significant cost to the taxpayer. It’s... Read more...
by Kieran Neild-Ali, grassroots assistant at the TaxPayers' Alliance It is no secret that the government gives public contracts to private companies. Departments and government agencies will tender a contract to private companies to provide public services, build hospitals and schools or supply public bodies. In principle, and in... Read more...
by Kieran Neild, grassroots assistant at the TaxPayers' AllianceTaxation affects every part of our lives. Whether it's buying food, going on holiday or even taking home a paycheque - our income and consumption is touched in some way by HMRC. This is of course not a recent phenomenon. In a... Read more...
by Darwin Friend, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance It seems a political age has passed since February, when Downing street figures told The Times that the BBC licence fee was set to be scrapped. But even though other seismic events have understandably dominated media and political attention in recent... Read more...
by Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance Back in June, I laid out the case for abolishing ten quangos in an attempt to reignite the “bonfire” that former PM David Cameron failed to keep going. Plenty of TPA supporters have been asking me: were those to be... Read more...