TPA Bulletin - 30th April 2010
£6.6bn later, Debt Clock completes 1,500 mile tour of Britain
On Monday 12th April 2010 an articulated lorry with a 7m long LED display mounted on the back of it set off from Westminster on a 1,500 mile journey around the UK.
Two weeks later, on Monday 26th April, after two weeks on the road, it completed its tour in Norwich, having counted up£6,698,630,137 of new national debt on its 32 inch tall screen. The message, picked up by media across the country, was clear, “wake up to the national debt”. Thanks to those of you who came out in force to support the Debt Clock Tour, if you’re missing the Debt Clock you can get one for your website or blog here.
Last night we watched Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg battle it out over the economy in the third of the televised leaders’ debates (watch on the iPlayer here). For all their rhetoric none of the parties has come up with a credible plan to tackle the national debt. Even in the heat of the final leaders' debate, the issue was dodged by all three parties. Many commentators now agree with the TPA’s view that spending cuts are needed, we've set out a plan to deliver them in our book 'How to cut spending (and still win an election)'. You can also read about those cuts here.
The Debt Clock started the tour showing a national debt figure of £781,512,328,767 and by the time it finished it had climbed to £788,210,958,904 - a staggering increase of £6,698,630,137. It might not be touring the country any more, but for now at least, the debt clock will keep on ticking. We've packed it away into storage but it's ready to go back on the road as soon as there is an emergency budget or spending review- the threat of the national debt has not gone away.
If you missed the Debt Clock you can see photos of it on the dedicated websitewww.debt-clock.org
New Research on Spending and Growth
Growth depressed by hike in spending over the last decade
GDP in 2010-11 already £111 billion lower than it would have been without the increase in spending since 2000
The provisional estimate of GDP growth in the first quarter of 2010, at just 0.2 per cent, suggests Britain is having a weak recovery from the recession. Even if the figures are later revised up, it is unlikely there will be a significant improvement on the 0.4 per cent recorded in the previous quarter. New TaxPayers' Alliance research looks at the evidence that higher spending leads to lower economic growth and suggests that the increase in spending over the last decade is already seriously depressing trend growth.
Read the full report here.
Try your hand as Chancellor
Before the “bigotgate” scandal obscured all other news this week, there was a strong debate running on spending cuts. As we have been arguing for some time, the public want the political parties to come clean about which cuts they are planning. After all, most people have cut back their own household spending, and they are sick of politicians trying to pretend it won’t be tough getting the national finances back under control. Thanks to the Financial Times, there is now an online calculator where you can have a go at being the Chancellor and put together your own programme of cuts. If you’d like to have a go, it is online here.
May Day Protest
Don’t forget, Bank Holiday Monday the 3rd of May is your chance to be heard- take to the streets and protest! As we told you last week, Hull and East Riding coordinator Andrew Allison has organised a protest rally outside County Hall in Beverley, Yorkshire.
It comes after East Riding Council’s decision to award outgoing Corporate Resources Director Sue Lockwood's pension fund a discretionary payment of £364,205. The public only found out after the story was leaked to the Yorkshire Post. The TPA is against the policy of offering discretionary payments to well paid staff already on generous pension plans paid for by taxpayers.
This is not a personal campaign against Mrs/ Lockwood; we are protesting against the £1.4 million already paid out in 2008/9 to those seeking early retirement. And we are protesting against excessive salaries and pay rises for senior officers, at a time when the government is borrowing more than £5,000 a second. We need to send a message to the ruling elite we are not prepared to be treated as though we don’t matter- we pay their wages.
If you can join the protest then let us know by e-mailing beverleyprotest@mail.com
If you are a Facebook user, join the Hull & East Riding Group and click to confirm you are attending.
Competition winners
Last week we offered two lucky TPA members the chance to win a pair of tickets each for a screening of new film ‘Erasing David’. The feature documentary follows filmmaker David Bond as he tries to disappear for a month and sets two private investigators the task of tracking him down, using only publicly available data. The question was: How many members of the Cabinet have volunteered to put their own DNA on the DNA database?
Congratulations to our winners Mr. R. Taylor and Mr. C.B. Ross, who were the first to answer correctly. The answer was of course none, not any, zero, zilch, zip, not a soul, nought.
If you missed out this time not to worry, you can watch the trailer and find out where it’s being screened near you by checking out the website www.erasingdavid.com
Best of the Blogs
Campaign: Keep paying us loadsamoney, say wealthy BBC stars
Better Government: Plugging the Leaks
Campaign: More than a million jobs to do
Economics 101: Commentators increasingly frustrated at politicians' refusal to level with the public
Campaign: Non-job of the week
Better Government: Debating the Issues
Economics 101: What has happened to manufacturing?
EU: A slow motion wreck
Economics 101: Ridiculous analysis in the Guardian on the jobs tax
Campaign: What to cut? The essential guide
Better Government: Today's health debate
Friday, 30 April 2010
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