Britannia Radio

TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 28 August 2009

 

Victory No. 1: Quangos banned from party conferences

 

Good news: we have a notable victory to report! You may recall that a few days before New Year we produced a report revealing that the Regional Development Agencies spent £285,000 at the three main party conferences last autumn. At the time, we advised that quangos should be banned from using taxpayers' money to lobby politicians for even more money. Not only is it a perversion of the public policy process, but it is also in practice a taxpayer-funded subsidy for the political parties themselves.

 

This week it has emerged that only days after our report came out, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell (pictured, right) issued an order banning quangos from attending the conferences. This is a great policy change that will save taxpayers millions of pounds and demonstrates the influence of the TPA's research, media profile and campaigning.

 

One further thought is particularly encouraging - due to his initials, Sir Gus is widely referred to in Whitehall as GOD. It's good to know we have such powerful allies!

 

Victory No. 2: Official investigation into council bosses' pay

 

Another major success this week came about thanks to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government John Denham. On the back of our lengthy and extremely high profile campaign on the pay and perks of senior council officials - most notably the annual Town Hall Rich List - he has ordered the Audit Commission to carry out a full review of the issue. In the announcement  he drew particular attention to so-called "Boomerang Bosses", who quit well-paid jobs at one council, cash in massive leaving payments and then walk straight into another high-earning position at a different Town Hall.

 

This move, which was covered widely including by the BBC and by Reuters, is another sign that our message on local government remuneration has really been getting through. All three main parties have now promised to make the full pay and perks of senior council staff public, and Mr Denham's new inquiry raises the issue to a new level. This, too, shows the value of quality research, hard-hitting campaigns and - most of all - perseverance. The political establishment may have been stacked against us but we are winning nevertheless.

 

Carbon Trust - another victory on the way?

 

The campaign against quangos took another step forward earlier this week with a new TPA assault on the unaccountable Carbon Trust. We revealed - along with the US think tank the Competitive Enterprise Institute - that the Trust, which is so far outside taxpayer control that it is even outside the reach of the Freedom of Information Act, is using British taxpayers' money to expand its lobbying operations into America and China.

 

The TPA has long campaigned against the Carbon Trust, which gets £93.4 million of taxpayers' money every year and whose 145 staff enjoy an average salary of £75,000, so it was great to see the news of their disgraceful global expansion plans covered prominently in the Daily Mail. Even better, the Mail backed our proposal of abolishing the Trust, writing in their Leader column that:

"Spending cuts are the last thing on the mind of Tom Delay, £223,000-a-year chief executive of a green quango funded by British taxpayers. While the rest of us tighten our belts, he's expanding his £100million-a-year Carbon Trust empire to establish a presence in the U.S. and China.

'Our work overseas has one sole purpose - to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy,' he says. What conceivable business is it of ours to subsidise preaching to the Americans and Chinese?

At an estimated £100billion a year, Britain's 700,000 quangocrats cost more than enough as it is, without spreading their tentacles around the globe. This week, Gordon Brown is under pressure to draw up a list of 'compassionate cuts', to fall where they will cause least pain. He should start with the Carbon Trust."

Amazingly, the Carbon Trust tried to deny the reports - despite the fact that their own website carried details of their international expansion plans. The TPA's Matthew Sinclair rebutted their excuses here.

Council Tax protest 10th September Norwich Magistrates Court

On 10th September, 2009, our long standing supporter Barbara Lockwood faces prison for non-payment of her council tax increases.  We’re determined to be with her to protest and give her as much support as we can.  If you can come along and join us we will be meeting outside the Norwich Magistrates Court at 1.30pm on Thursday 10th September 2009. This is an extremely important event because Barbara is threatened with prison.  So we need as many supporters there as possible to show how unfair the council’s actions are. If you are coming to the protest please RSVP to Tim Aker tim.aker@taxpayersalliance.com 

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