On Friday 30th April, TPA Policy Analyst Ben Farrugia appeared before the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, putting forward the TPA’s case for greater transparency and tighter controls on executive pay in the public sector. In an hour and a half session, taking in issues such as top salaries in local government, the lack of accountability among national quangos and the problem with excessive ‘rewards for failure’, Ben, Polly Toynbee (of the Guardian), Tony Travers (LSE) and David Clark (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives – SOLACE) were quizzed by the Committee of MP’s as part of their ongoing enquiry into top public sector pay. To watch the session online, follow this link
Join us to Stop the EU Rip-Off
Next Thursday, 7th May, we will be holding an important campaign event to ‘Stop the EU Rip Off’. As part of our ongoing and high profile EU campaign, we’ll be out in London handing out our new ‘Stop the EU Rip off’ postcards and window stickers to members of the public and we’d like you to come and join us. We’ll also have a number of stunts happening on the same day to promote the campaign, but we can’treveal the details of those yet!
Over the past few months we’ve explained in our research notes how the EU costs each family £2000 a year, how it has destroyed the British fishing industry and how MEPs are able to claim £1 million from EU expenses. Now it’s time to take the message to the people and we need your help.
It was the Tories' Spring Forum in Cheltenham over the weekend, and the keynote speech from David Cameron featured some encouraging proposals. Indeed, some of them were so encouraging that the Guardian reported that it seemed like "the TaxPayers' Alliance is now writing Conservative party policy". So what were the pledges that so horrified the Guardian, and are so good for taxpayers?
Among others, the Tory leader pledged to abolish Regional Development Agencies, ID cards and the ContactPoint Child Database, along with replacing top-down IT monsters like the NHS database with more individualistic ways of working. People will apparently also gain more control over local services with a promise to publish performance indicators, and the freedom to choose their hospital or their school. Cameron reiterated the Tories' plans for Google Government, under which every item of Government expenditure over £25,000 will be published online for all to see. Other specific TPA proposals like our prisons plan appear to have been adopted, and thanks to the pressure applied with the annual Public Sector Rich List and Town Hall Rich List, the Tories will apparently be making senior pay and perks entirely transparent. There is still a long way to go – and as the Budget last week made clear there are still huge financial problems to solve – but much of the speech was an encouraging sign that the campaign is proving successful. Thank you all for your support – the message is starting to get through!
Brussels Laid BareNext Wednesday, 6 May, we'll be leafleting in Knaresborough Market, North Yorkshire. Our campaign will involve recruiting new supporters but also protesting against the unilateral decision taken by Harrogate and Knaresborough Lib Dems to siphon 10% of their councillor allowances for their own party political activities. If councillors don't hand the money over, they get deselected as candidates without a vote by members. We think this is approaching state funding of political parties by the back door and will be collecting signatures to petition against it. You can read more about the issue in Tim's recent opinion piece in the Yorkshire Post. We'll be meeting at 11am by 'Blind Jack's Statue' in the marketplace. I do hope you'll be able to join us for an important campaign day. You can find a map here. If you are coming please do notify us at tim.aker@taxpayersalliance.com.
Burning Our Money: Repaying The National Debt. Not.
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