The TPA’s analysis of today’s expense claim figures for MPs ranks the main Parties by the average amount claimed per MP in expenses. Travel expenses are excluded given the different geographic spread of the Parties. Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “Conservative MPs should be... Read more...
Have a read of this non-job an activist alerted us to: “Young Mayor Co-ordinator£27,800 - £34,100 pa inc. In October 2007, the young people of Newham have voted for their first ever Young Mayor. You will provide principal support to the Young Mayor, working with him to deliver... Read more...
In the wake of the TaxPayers’ Alliance inadvertently attracting media attention for their “non-job” of the week - as advertised by Sandwell Council - another job of ambiguous merit has surfaced on the Coventry City Council website… Community Lifestyle Coach £22,293 - £27,492pa A physical activity professional, you... Read more...
Can’t council bureaucrats find anything better to do than discourage social, voluntary activity helping the local community? If you’ve read the Telegraph this morning you’ll see the disappointing story involving Broxbourne Council asking Stan and Jean Chatterton to stop cleaning a grass verge near their house. In a letter... Read more...
The Telegraph reports statistics from the ONS showing that middle class professionals are outliving builders and cleaners by as much as eight years: One of the factors that the report cited as possibly affecting a person's life expectancy was interesting: "But the nature of people's jobs... Read more...
The Mail reports today that MPs are struggling to find employment on leaving work: "The study said employers have little use for former MPs - and some take more than a year to find a job. Those who do manage to find work often complain that they do not earn... Read more...
Yesterday we noted how Renfrewshire Council was spending £100,000 on desks. Today we learn that the government has been spending £57,000+ on ministerial red boxes in the past 5 years. A series of questions and freedom of information requests from Lib Dem MP John Hemming showed that the Department for... Read more...
The Telegraph reports that the official estimate of unfunded public sector pension liabilities has risen to £620 billion, up from the previous official estimate of £530 billion. This works out at around £30,000 per household over the next four decades. Of course, the official projection is at the low... Read more...
A TPA activist has given us a heads-up on some remarkable government procurement projects put out to tender. The first comes from Thurrock Council where we have bad news for the Bus service, but good news for the Mayor. They’re looking for a chauffeur service to ferry the Mayor... Read more...
Tax-news.com reports that Canadian Liberals, who reduced the federal corporation tax rate from 28 per cent to 19 per cent when in office, are now proposing to reduce the rate even more, and by more than the 0.5 per cent reduction proposed by the incumbent Conservative Party: Liberal Leader Stephane... Read more...
An interesting new paper from Policy Exchange argues that Britain's strong economic growth over the past 15 years is not as positive as it seems. It has, instead, been built on the back of a surge in house prices, leading to a lower savings ratio and a huge increase in... Read more...
Last week Sandwell Council deservedly got a lot of flack from us by advertising for two positions in their welfare rights department. This week, Nottingham City Council is advertising for ten positions in its welfare rights department. Top City firms may be handing out redundancies, but the welfare rights industry... Read more...
An interesting snippet from Greg Mankiw's blog - according to the OECD tax revenue as a share of GDP in the UK is higher than it was in 1975, the hight of Old Labour socialism. This needn't be the case if our politicians didn't act as a high-tax cartel. ... Read more...
No word of a lie but Nick Ferrari on LBC Radio has revealed that Leicestershire County Council will allow its staff to take an afternoon off just to go Christmas shopping (found in the Leicestershire local paper too). Good for them, but they’re still on the clock. As far as... Read more...
Following on from the widely-reported failues of the NHS to tackle hospital superbugs comes the news that one in three NHS trusts is struggling financially. How is this possible? The NHS now consumes around £100 billion a year, a threefold increase in the last decade. We can only repeat... Read more...
The former finance director of North Stoke Primary Care Trust who presided as the body plunged into £6million of debt and was subsequently suspended from her £85,000-a-year post on full pay for 18 months has also received a “golden handshake” of over £30,000 on quitting, today’s The Sentinel reports. ... Read more...
The man who cost us our shirt BBC File on Four has broadcast an investigation into yet another shambles bequeathed to taxpayers by John Prescott (listen again here). It's likely to cost us another EU fine running into tens of millions (cf the £436m EU fine for Margaret Beckett's fiasco... Read more...
My bonus is clearly in the national interest In the news this week:£53m bonuses for Treasury mandarins- "SENIOR civil servants in the department responsible for the tax credit fiasco have been paid more than £53million in bonuses. Nearly half the sum was paid in the last 12 months... Critics pointed... Read more...
Eastbourne has changed since 1954 "A military helicopter destroyed the conservatory of a £1.75 million mansion when its pilot swooped too low to look at a sunbathing au pair, a court heard yesterday.The four servicemen flying the Merlin helicopter were said to have dropped to 500ft or lower for the... Read more...
We've criticised the Government for raising capital gains tax on small business by 80 per cent, and supported the many justified complaints from business groups and others. But in the interests of debate, here is an alternative view from a respected commentator - Martin Wolf in the Financial Times:... Read more...
Yet more evidence of the failures of the state education system have come to light today: Fewer than half of 16-year-olds this year achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths; Only a quarter achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English, maths, science and a foreign language;... Read more...
Of all the things a council could interfere in, Slough Council has banned its community bonfire – especially for bonfire night – because it breaches their ‘clean air policy’. With the proliferation of green politics and the development of ‘climate change’ departments in local authorities, we’re certainly not surprised such... Read more...
The Derby TaxPayers’ Alliance branch launched yesterday with a meeting of prominent tax activists in Derby and a leading journalist from the Derby Evening Telegraph interested in the formation of the local grassroots branch. Joining us is Josephine Rooney, who came to national attention when she refused... Read more...
According to local reports Ken Meeson, the leader of Solihull Council, is warning of substantial council tax hikes next year in a bid to claw back enough money to straddle the deficit opened by a cut in their government grant. This follows this year’s inflation busting 5% rise in council... Read more...