TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 27th March 2009
Councils get a telling off from the Audit commission over Icelandic Banks
Yet more sordid details on MPs' expenses emerged this week. This time the perpetrator was Tony McNulty, Minister for Employment and Welfare, who claimed a whopping £60,000 for his parents' house, where he spends no time and does no discernible constituency work. McNulty claims, as have numerous others over the past few months, that he has done nothing wrong. But this is a clear abuse of the parliamentary allowances system and a misuse of taxpayers’ money. The defence that these claims are within the letter of the rules is no excuse and this is clearly not what parliamentary allowances are provided for. MPs need to start doing what’s right rather than just what they can get away with, and taxpayers across the country are sick and tired of seeing their hard-earned cash paying politicians' mortgages when they can hardly afford their own.
Inherited Problems Lobby Kensington and Chelsea Council to save money and lives
Over the weeks we’ve been petitioning against dangerous and expensive shared space schemes in Kensington and Chelsea, which will amass a bill of at least £42 million for local residents to pay for. We handed in the petition on Tuesday and now we need your help to lobby K&C councillors to make them think again. Please visit our blog here and contact as many councillors as you can to ask them to reconsider their plans.
Stop Motorbike stealth taxes
This is a call to arms: Next Tuesday, 31st March at 5pm in Trafalgar Square, and then 6.45pm outside Westminster City Hall on Victoria Street, the TPA will be joining a mass protest against one of the most poorly thought out, unfair and misguided stealth taxes in British local government. We’ll be meeting at 5pm for a rally at Trafalgar Square and then to Westminster City Council on Victoria Street for 6.45. Please come and join us in what will be a very important protest. If we defeat these stealth taxes in Westminster, few other authorities will dare to implement it in their boroughs. Read Mark Wallace's blog on the protest here.
Grassroots Action
We’re having an active end of March and April, so if you would like to come to any of the following action days, please email our grassroots coordinator, Tim Aker at tim.aker@taxpayersalliance.com
- Leafleting in Swanage, Dorset, Tuesday 14th April. We’re meeting at 11.15am at The Mowlem, Swanage. For details of how to get there by car please contact Mike Hobson on 01929 439 099.
- Council Tax Protest in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, Thursday 16th April. Meet outside the Magistrates Court, Bolnore Road, Haywards Heath for 10.30 (our supporter Terry Reilly is due in court at 11.15). Please bring placards of support – we’ll provide leaflets. You can find a map here
- Leafleting in Sutton, London, Friday 24th April. We’re meeting outside Sutton Town Hall. Time TBC but it’s likely to be mid-late morning.
If you would like an action day in your area where we can muster our supporters and stick it to high-spending, wasteful councils do let us know and we’ll seek to organise in your area.
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