Saturday, 27 March 2010

TPA Bulletin - 26th March 2010
 
 
Yesterday we released the TPA's new book, How to cut public spending (and still win an election). Edited by TPA Research Director Matthew Sinclair includes a detailed examination of the records of the major parties and sets out a detailed programme of £50 billion of potential cuts and essential reforms to ensure taxpayers get better value for money. Expert authors from around the world also set out their experiences of what it takes to successfully get a country’s public finances in order. It really is the must-read book on both the practice and the politics of carrying out the public spending cuts which are so essential to balance Britain's books.

To summarise some of the key new research findings in the report, the TPA has produced three research notes:
  • 2010 to 2020: the £573 billion budget crunch sets out the cumulative burden that is set to be imposed by the combination of a necessary fiscal adjustment and government policies requiring expensive investments which will push up bills. Download the research note here.
  • The fiscal and economic case for localism provides new estimates from Mike Denham, TPA Research Fellow and former Treasury and City economist, of the potential improvement in public sector efficiency – saving as much as £70 billion – and economic growth – a boost of 0.5 per cent each year – from fiscal decentralisation. Download the research note here.
  • Identifying Organisations to Cut sets out a list of organisations that could be abolished entirely under the TPA’s recommendations to cut spending and get the public finances under control. Download the research note here.
You can buy the book online by following this Amazon link.

The book has had great media coverage so far. In particular, opinion articles by Matt and other contributors have appeared in the Daily Telegraph, City AM, Spectator Coffee House, the Yorkshire Post, Public Servant magazine and the Guardian's Comment is Free.
 
The Bankrupt Budget
 
Any Budget is a historic event, but not always for good reasons. This week Alistair Darling cemented his place in history as the Chancellor who ran the biggest deficit ever seen in this country - piling hundreds of billions of pounds of extra debt onto ordinary taxpayers now and for years to come.
 
As ever, while the politicians were failing to stand up for taxpayers we have been working extremely hard to put the case for spending cuts, lower taxes and open government. As well as taking part in interviews on national television and radio, we were widely featured across the print media.
 
Our budget response was reported in the Daily Mail here, here, here and here, The Sun, the Daily Express, the Daily Star, Politics.co.uk and elsewhere, while we've also had spokesmen on a whole range of broadcasters discussing what the Budget means for ordinary taxpayers, and what Alistair Darling should have done instead.
 
In response to the Chancellor's Budget speech, TPA Chief Executive Matthew Elliott said:
 
"The Chancellor has utterly failed to face up to the horrific scale of Government borrowing and debt. There was a handful of tax holidays and spending cuts, but nothing to deal with the debt addiction which threatens to make Britain the next Greece. The public are crying out for serious and sizeable spending cuts to rebalance the books, but the Government is living in La-La Land. Large spending cuts are essential for taxpayers and for the health of the economy but Gordon Brown only knows how to spend more, not less. We need a real Budget after the election that faces up to the serious realities of our situation."
 
As with previous Budgets, our in-house research team were joined by experts in economics and public finance to go through the Budget with a fine tooth comb. We turned up several hidden Budget nasties which were passed to the media on Wednesday afternoon and then presented in our first official Budget Briefing on Thursday morning. The full PowerPoint presentation from the Budget Briefing can be read online here. Our key findings were:
  •  Leading economist Ruth Lea investigated Alistair Darling's "Do-Nothing" approach. Read her analysis here and watch her video presentation here.
  • TPA Research Director Matthew Sinclair discussed the inadequacy of the Government's debt reduction plan (blog here) and introduced the key findings of the new TPA book on camera here.
  • William Norton investigated for our blog the possible unintended consequences of the Chancellor's anti-avoidance measures. At the Budget briefing he presented a detailed analysis of the Operation Efficiencies Programme. The video is here.
  • TPA Policy Analyst John O'Connell calculated the huge costs of fiscal drag, the Government's favourite stealth tax. John's blog is here and the video of his presentation can be found here.
  • TPA Policy Analyst Jennifer Dunn blogged on the effects of Fuel Duty and Vehicle Excise Duty on Wednesday (read it here). In our Budget briefing she discussed car taxes and new research on the impact of so-called sin taxes - video here.
  • Former Treasury economist Mike Denham calculated the terrifying potential costs of servicing the interest on our huge national debt in a blog post here  and then explains on video the growth in public sector pay here.
  • Julian Morris of the International Policy Network warned of the risks of the new Green Investment Bank, given the huge cost of previous government investment funds. Watch his presentation here.
  • Corin Taylor, formerly TPA Research Director and now Senior Policy Adviser to the Institute of Directors, discussed rising public sector pension costs, the potential bill for infrastructure projects and the Chancellor's business policies on video here.
  • There was one bit of good news, in that the Government have started taking on some of our proposals on quangos. Mark Wallace investigates their policies here.
 
On today's Daily Politics, TPA Research Director Matthew Sinclair challenged UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis over his £127,000 pay and perks. Dave claimed he got "nowhere near that". We thought this deserved a proper factcheck, and produced this new video exposing the truth about the question that people are always asking: What is Dave Prentis on?
 
Bringing MPs to Justice: Join the People's Oink Protest
 
Next Tuesday 30th March, 3 MPs and one Lord will attend the first formal day of their trial for fraud or false accounting. Following our successful and high profile protest outside Westminster Magistrate's Court recently, we are teaming up with famous blogger Guido Fawkes and the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics to hold a mass "Oink Protest" against any and all examples of greed (criminal or otherwise). The specific time of the arrival of the accused at Southwark has not yet been released, but please email mark.wallace@taxpayersalliance.com if you'd like to come along and we'll keep you updated. For further details, see the Sunlight Centre's blog here.
 
Counting down to the TPA's General Election campaign

A lot of you have been asking what the TPA will be up to during the General Election. Safe to say, we have a very big campaign coming up that will see us take a really fundamental message about the nation's fiscal situation on tour around the country. We'll be sending you all more information about what we've got planned and how you can get involved, but safe to say it is going to be huge.
 
Best of the Blogs
 

Posted by Britannia Radio at 10:06