The election is over - and now our fight begins
Dear TPA supporter,
The election is over, but for taxpayers and the TPA the battle really begins right now. So far, of course, we don't know who is going to form the next Government or what their policies will be, but we do know one thing for certain: it is you and me as taxpayers who will have to fund their schemes.
As you will have seen over the last few weeks, we've been fighting hard to raise the crucial issue of our massive national debt among all political parties. The Debt Clock Tour played a really important part in that and allowed us to reach a huge number of people around the country. Everywhere we went, people's jaws dropped to learn to true scale of the national debt crisis, and I'm sure many more taxpayers are now alive to that problem as a result. But that must only be the beginning.
Make no mistake, for all the focus on personalities, different electoral systems or coalition talks, the big issue remains the huge deficit, the crushing national debt and the urgent need for sizeable spending cuts. You only need to look at what has happened to the value of the Pound, or the shocking riots and disorder currently bringing Greece to its knees to see why we must face up to this problem straight away and with a solid solution.
This is why the TPA's most important battle begins today. It would be utterly unacceptable if the coalition negotiations were to focus on the more arcane technicalities of different systems of Proportional Representation, or simply on how much taxpayers' cash should be dished out to particular regions or constituencies in order to buy MPs' votes. The core, fundamental issue on which the new Government should be built is how to cut public spending, radically reduce the deficit and start to put the public finances back in balance.
This is not an academic issue, or a hypothetical argument. We must cut public spending now, on a large scale and in an organised way, or else we will be forced to do so in a panic thanks to an inevitable crisis later on. In Greece, successive Governments dodged the issue, refused to face reality and lied to their own citizens and other countries rather than deal with the simple fact that they were spending far too much. Britain must not follow the same road to disaster.
We will be working extremely hard to put the TPA at the forefront of the battle on public spending, and to ensure that the battle is won. Once the dust settles from this election, and once the current, frantic negotiations are over, whoever forms the new Government can be sure that we will be there doing what we do best: watching and scrutinising how every penny of taxpayers' money is spent, and hammering anyone who squanders it. With your help, we can keep them all on their toes, and ensure that taxpayers see a real improvement in the deal we get.
The TPA was set up to campaign for two key things: lower taxes and better services. We've always felt that the political class have been short-changing taxpayers, and that we deserve a better deal. No matter who ends up in Government, and no matter what happens in those smoky negotiating rooms in the next few days, we will be stretching every sinew to ensure that the voice of taxpayers is heard. We have a just cause, and the journey to achieve our aims will be long and tough - but we couldn't have got this far without all of you, and I hope you'll be with us the rest of the way.
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Elliott,
Chief Executive
The TaxPayers' Alliance
Chief Executive
The TaxPayers' Alliance
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