Friday, 18 September 2009

TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 18 September 2009
 
You've been Fleeced!

On Monday, Matthew Elliott and David Craig released their new book Fleeced! How we’ve been betrayed by the politicians, bureaucrats and bankers… and how much they’ve cost us, published by Constable. Fleeced! is the very first book to analyse the financial, fiscal and political crisis resulting from a decade spent under the stewardship of Gordon Brown and is a devastating indictment of Brown’s time as Chancellor and Prime Minister. The authors, who were the first to reveal the shocking truth about Brown’s overspending since 1997 in their previous books, show that in 12 years of New Labour around £1.5 trillion of taxpayers’ money has been squandered on an acceleration in profligate government spending fuelled by the economic boom; and around another £1.5 trillion has evaporated in the bust.

Fleeced! was given a big preview in the Daily Mail who summarised the key chapters, explaining how the authors arrived at the eye-watering total of £3 trillion for Gordon Brown’s mishandling of the economy. The release ofFleeced! and Brown's £3 trillion con were also reported in:
The Sun, Labour blunders cost taxpayers £3 trillion  
Daily Express, Brown the bungler has cost every person in Britain £50,000  
Daily Mail, Brown’s mishandling of the economy has cost £50,000 for every person in Britain, according to new book  
Daily Star, Bungler Brown has bled Britain dry  
Daily Telegraph, Gordon Brown ‘wasted three trillion’ 
The Guardian, Comment Is Free: I see no wisdom, Mandelson  
This is Money, Brown ‘cost us £50,000 each’ in tax 
Press Association, 'Brown cost taxpayers £3 trillion' 
Matthew Elliott was interviewed on Sky Sunrise on Monday morning and on John Gaunt’s Suntalk radio show on Tuesday. 
  
Fleeced! RRP £8.99, is now available in all good bookshops and on Amazon here 

 
How to Save Money and Influence People
 
Following the publication of our joint paper with the Institute of Directors How to Save £50 billion, this week has seen historic announcements by all three main political parties on public spending cuts. It would seem that politicians of all stripes are now having to face up to the fact that excessive borrowing needs to be cut. The TPA has long argued that cuts in public spending are the only way to deliver sustainable public finances, and that tax rises cannot be acceptable with taxpayers already struggling to fund a bloated, inefficient state. A poll for The Sunday Times showed that most taxpayers now share that view, as 60% of the taxpaying public now see spending cuts as a better way of plugging the deficit than tax rises. This week, at the TUC conference in Liverpool, Gordon Brown for the first time admitted that Labour would have to make cuts, on Wednesday Vince Cable presented his ideas for spending cuts and both George Osborne and David Cameron have made speeches about reducing spending this week. Our paper, which was published at the end of last week and outlined in detail where the Government can and must deliver savings to taxpayers, has proven an integral part of the debate this week over where the axe must fall, and has been cited by columnists, MPs and opinion formers to make the case for bringing the bolting horse of government spending to a halt. 

The influential ConservativeHome blog has also launched a serialisation of the report, in which members of the public are invited to debate each of our recommendations one by one. You can join that process here.


The debate contiues to rage across regional, national and international media, with hits including:
ConservativeHome, What do the Tories need to say about cuts? 
Guardian, Comment is Free: Matthew Elliott: I see no wisdom, Mandelson 
The Guardian, Jackie Ashley: Labour's cuts should start with the middle classes 
The Spectator, Can Labour re-engage with its core vote by attacking middle class benefits? 
The Sunday Times, Get set for the great Tory shake-up 
The Sunday Times, David Smith: Spending cuts won't derail the recovery 
Sunday Express, Go public on debt, Brown told 
The Observer, Labour set to target middle class benefits 
The Observer, Labour or the Conservatives: which party will make the cruellest cuts? 
The Observer, Andrew Rawnsley: If Labour doesn't fight the tide, it will be drowned by it 
The Guardian, Polly Toynbee:Cameron's basic error will cost this country dearly 
TPA spokesmen also appeared on Newsnight, Sky News, and national and regional radio and television outlets.   
 
The TPA - Watching Big Brother

Over the past 10 years our Government has become increasingly overbearing, creating a nation of criminals out of good British citizens. We are subject to ever more officious laws and intrusive means of surveillance. Its time to fight back.  Next month we are launching Big Brother Watch (BBW) as a check on the surveillance state. BBW will be headed by the Director, Alex Deane, with support from the Campaign Director, Dylan Sharpe.  Alex is a barrister, and Dylan has worked as a press officer on high profile political campaigns. Their mission statement is to fight injustice and campaign to protect our civil liberties and personal freedoms.  The British state has accumulated unprecedented power and the instinct of politicians and bureaucrats is to expand their power base even further into areas unknown in peace time. Big Brother Watch campaigns to reestablish the balance of power between the state and individuals and families. We will look for the sly, slow seizure of control by the state - of power, of information and of our lives.  We advocate the return of our liberties and freedoms and look to ordinary people to join our cause. Big Brother Watch is on your side.

Matthew wrote an article about them setting up in The Sunday Times and Alex has a piece on the US siteHuman Events. They’ve also received coverage in The Daily Express, The Scottish Herald and on the Press Association Newswire. Alex was also interviewed by Peter Levy on BBC Radio Humberside last week. For an example of the sort of thing they’ll seek to identify, here’s a piece about data retention. If you’d like to send them your own experiences of the Big Brother state, get involved, or sign up for their bulletins, please contact Dylan and Alex at info@bigbrotherwatch.org.uk

A Very Good Year
 
The TPA is delighted to launch our Annual Review 08/09. The publication, which can be downloaded here, revisits and celebrates our work over the last 12 months. It's been a busy year, with the TPA making our mark on as diverse areas as MPs' expenses, the EU, the Quango State and Public Sector Pay. Looking back on such a fruitful year, we'd also like to say a huge thank you to all of our supporters, who have been the real stars of the show and without whom none of our work would be possible. Hopefully you'll both enjoy the review and find it inspiring to go forward and keep up the fight for lower taxes and better, more accountable government.  
 
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 20:08