Saturday, 7 November 2009

TaxPayers' Alliance bulletin - 6th November 2009
Sir Christopher gets tough

The waiting is finally over and this week saw the release of Sir Christopher Kelly's recommendations for reforming MPs' expenses. The TPA has been at the forefront of the campaign to reform of MPs' expenses and we welcomed the report, which draws extensively on many of our proposals and offers a practical manifesto for Parliament to begin to regain the faith of the public. However, they are still only proposals - they must be adopted immediately and in full by MPs and the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). It would be unacceptable for the proposals to be watered down, delayed or obstructed in any way. The Kelly Report is the way forward for Parliament, and IPSA must not allow it to be cherry-picked. We were encouraged to see many of our recommendations have been adopted, including the abolition of the communications allowance, the banning of family members, an end to capital gains from second homes and full transparency of receipts. The full proposals we made to Sir Christopher's inquiry are available online here.

Equally encouraging, the TPA has been invited to sit on the board of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) Implementation Programme. The body had its first meeting 29th October, and TPA Campaign Director Mark Wallace stood in for Matthew Elliott to take our place at the table. The TPA is the only centre-right group that has been invited to contribute, joining other campaign groups such as Unlock Democracy and other independent experts to help make sure that Sir Christopher's recommendations are implemented as swiftly and thoroughly as possible. Fine out more, and follow IPSA's progress here.

As well as our policy victory, TPA spokespeople have featured across print and broadcast media this week making the case for taxpayers, with hits including:
Daily Express: EXPENSES: MPS TOLD THEY CAN NO LONGER CLAIM FOR MORTGAGES
The Guardian: Party leaders back Christopher Kelly's proposals to overhaul MPs' expenses
The Times: The Kelly report on MPs' expenses
The Independent: Brown accepts Kelly report on MPs' expenses
The Mirror: £100,000 MPs
Daily Mail: MPs forced to hand back profits from sale of second homes in expenses crackdown
Daily Express: MPS: WE WANT £40,000 A YEAR PAY RISE
The Sun: 1 day on...MPs overturn new exes rule
Daily Express: WE'RE CASTRATED SAYS MP IN EXPENSES CUT BACKLASH
Scotland Courier: MPs must accept expenses shake-up
ConservativeHome: ToryDiary: Tory MPs' wives consult lawyers after Kelly recommends ending their Commons employment
TPA spokesmen also appeared on a host of national and regional broadcast media.

New TPA book - free copies for our supporters

The TPA is pleased to announce that the first 5,000 copies of our new book,Ten Years On by Dr Lee Rotherham, are now available to order free on a first-come-first-served basis. To pre-order your free copy, click here. As a TPA supporter, we are of course giving you advance notice of the book's release to make sure you have a chance to get your hands on a copy, which are normally priced at £5.99.

Here's a taster of what to expect from the book, which features a foreword by The Sun's Trevor Kavanagh and an epilogue by best-selling author Frederick Forsyth:

"If you traded something, made something, sold something, ran something, policed something, protected something, transported something, communicated something, fished something, grew something, stored something, repaired something, bought something, spent something, exchanged something, taught something, learned something, powered something, healed something, published something, researched something, reported something, supported something, Brussels had a say in it.

The EU was everywhere.

Now, ten years on, things are very different…"

Britain has been a member of the European Union for a third of a century, enduring all the waste, fraud and red tape that Brussels could throw at it. But what would it be like if one day Britain just said ‘Enough’? Ten Years Ontakes us to a world where they have done just that. Dr Rotherham’s new book imagines a future where Britain is free to control its own affairs, to strike its own deals and to decide its own fate. This is your opportunity to get a vivid glimpse of how the future could be very, very different. Click here to order your copy today.
Where now?

Now that the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified by all the EU's member states it has become law. What should be the next steps for Britain and the EU? The TPA's EU Policy Analyst Dr Lee Rotherham has written a step by step guide to what the next Prime Minister of Britain should be demanding, and how to go about it.

The proposals could and should be adopted by any party that finds itself in Government after the next election. As Labour and the Lib Dems are open supporters of the Lisbon Treaty, though, and as Tory policy has yet to be set on the matter, the report is titled "Hague's Handbag". Enjoy!

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Posted by Britannia Radio at 07:43