The author has asked to remain anonymous, but has been a long-serving council leader and member of cabinet. In the year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day we have been asked to pull together to show that commitment, single mindedness and resolve that our predecessors showed. Many... Read more...
By Milly Skriczka, development manager As taxpayers, we should not allow the coronavirus to prevent us from holding the representatives responsible for spending our money to account. With a total budget of a whopping £9.7 billion, TfL (and their boss, the Mayor of London) are no exception. Furthermore, today, TfL has... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager The UK has spent seven weeks in lockdown. Public expenditure is soaring, millions have lost their jobs and large swathes of the public find themselves furloughed and relying on the government to pay their salary. These unprecedented measures have been understandable and justifiable in... Read more...
As part of a series of essays on the deeper questions behind politics, grassroots assistant Kieran Neild-Ali writes about the history of free trade. This week, the third round of the UK-EU trade talks began. Many Brexiteers claim the UK’s departure from the EU presents an opportunity for a renewed... Read more...
In March, one of the measures the TaxPayers’ Alliance suggested to tackle the coronavirus public health emergency was the suspension of suspending Sunday trading restrictions. Positively, Parliament seems to be waking up to how a suspension could aid the effort against the coronavirus, with 40 MPs putting the idea of a... Read more...
Sam Packer, media campaign manager, reviews the autobiography of Glen Jacobs aka Kane After reading Knox County, Tennessee mayor and wrestling legend Glen Jacobs’ autobiography, the first question to ponder is why it is that more politicians and celebrities can't be like Kane. Mayor Kane is a page turner which combines... Read more...
By Scott Simmonds, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance Public Health England (PHE) has been in the news a lot lately. Since its creation seven years ago, this entity has swelled in size and is now costing the taxpaying public an astonishing £300 million pounds - enough to pay for 6,556... Read more...
By Darwin Friend, researcher Since the foundation of the TaxPayers’ Alliance in 2004, we have fought against the wasting of taxpayers’ cash. Because the BBC’s funding comes directly from an unfair, compulsory tax on everyone with a TV set, that includes them. From £200,000 lost on unused taxis, trains and... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager In March 2020, a vehicle dealership in Hounslow, London posted an unusual listing on their website. At 61 feet long, with 38 seats and a pivoting joint in its midriff, this colossus is none other than an articulated bus - more commonly known as... Read more...
In the latest in a series of essays on the philosophical questions that underpin politics, grassroots assistant Kieran Neild-Ali reflects on the history of liberty in England. "Our liberty is neither Greek nor Roman; but essentially English. It has a character of its own - a character which has... Read more...
By Milly Skriczka, Development Manager With parliament having returned yesterday, it’s an odd time for the House of Commons. A national epidemic has triggered massive and immediate state intervention in our everyday lives, making parliament’s usual to-and-fro seem trivial by comparison. But in times like this, the ability to ask... Read more...
By Kieran Neild- Ali, grassroots assistant at the TaxPayers’ Alliance Coronavirus has had a huge impact on our daily lives. Shopping has been especially affected. Supermarkets are enforcing social distancing laws to protect their customers from the virus and ensuring essential items cannot be bought in bulk. For most of... Read more...
By Sam Packer, media campaign manager In February, the government launched a consultation on decriminalising the BBC licence fee. Given the crux of our Axe the Tax campaign - that it’s preposterous that people are compelled to pay a tax on pain of imprisonment in order to fund something they... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager Yesterday it emerged that over thirty council leaders have signed a letter to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government urging the government to assist households in the paying of their council tax bills, amidst the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis. “One... Read more...
By Ian Taylor - chairman of the Alliance of British Drivers (ABD) and local coordinator for the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) in East Kent A recent opinion article for the British Medical Journal (BMJ) called for cigarette packet-style warnings on petrol and diesel pumps. The implementation of which “could have... Read more...
By Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager This year’s budget was anything but typical. With measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak understandably dominating the media’s attention and the wider economic picture in flux, many of the less immediate elements seem to have slipped through the net. Below we have outlined five... Read more...
By Jeremy Hutton, Policy Analyst The full resources of the state are being marshalled so that Britain can emerge from the dark clouds of this 21st century coronavirus plague as soon as possible. At the TaxPayers’ Alliance, we have been clear that we broadly understand the need for these extraordinary... Read more...
By Keiran Neild- Ali, grassroots assistant Britain is a nation of pint guzzlers, wine quoffers and gin and tonic sippers. Whether it is the joy of a pint in the glory of a sunlit beer garden (or, at the moment with social distancing, in your own garden!) or a glass... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager We are in unprecedented times and many things remain unclear. What is certain though, is that the public finances will be in need of urgent repair in the coming years. Politicians should not solve budget holes by raising taxes when there is an imperative... Read more...
By Sara Rainwater, Operations Director Sutton council has impeccable timing. At 8.01pm on the evening of Wednesday 18th March - a mere three hours after the Education Secretary announced the closure of schools in England in the wake of the coronavirus crisis - the council sent out this email to... Read more...
By Sam Packer, media campaign manager The coronavirus outbreak has had a truly extraordinary impact on life across the western world. Whilst obviously secondary to health concerns, for me and millions like me the resulting freeze on all forms of sport has been one of the most frustrating aspects of... Read more...
In the first of a series of thought pieces considering the philosophical basis of political concepts, grassroots assistant Kieran Neild questions whether a large tax burden can go hand in hand with liberty. Big government is on the rise in Britain. The tax burden is at its highest for fifty... Read more...