Friday, 16 July 2010

TPA Bulletin - 16th July 2010
Moving on

Today it is with great sadness that we must announce the departure of Mark Wallace, our longstanding Campaign Director, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Since he joined us from the Freedom Association in 2007, Mark has put his heart and soul into the TPA. He has overseen a massive growth in the volume of our media coverage and the rise in our profile in the public debate. Under his leadership, our campaign team has been able to fight more effectively than ever on your behalf against wasteful spending and ruinous taxation.
Over the years, Mark has had some memorable clashes with staff and politicians on the public sector gravy train – the boss at the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils didn't know what hit him when a 25 year old Mark tore him to pieces in the Newsnight studio with Jeremy Paxman, for example! Union officials fighting against public spending reductions lost out to Mark on BBC News, too. And of course there was the time appeared the Jeremy Vine shown on BBC Radio 2 against the formidable Polly Toynbee from the Guardian. Mark comprehensively and confidently put forward the case for lower taxes and was victorious in arguing that the public sector was bloated and wasteful.
Mark also took a leading role in responding to the scandal of MPs’ expenses claims and heading up our Stop the EU Rip-off campaign. Most recently, Mark donned a George Osborne mask to deliver a giant cheque of the UK’s daily contribution to the EU Commission building in London, a stunt that was filmed for YouTube.
We will never forget Mark’s intelligence, wit, and dedication to the cause and will be very sorry to see him go.
Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum said: “Mark has been a hugely important and effective part of the team at the TPA, and a good friend to all of us who have worked with him over the years. We all wish him well for the next stage in what we are sure will be an extremely successful career.”
Mark said of his time at the TPA: “After more than two and a half years as the TPA’s Campaign Director, I’m moving on, as they say, to pastures new. I’ve had a fantastic time with the organisation, which has been more varied, more exciting and more hectic than I could ever have anticipated.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about working at the TPA has been that whilst we are based in Westminster, and often deal with technical issues of economics and public finance, the organisation has remained firmly rooted in the real world thanks to our grassroots network. The army of almost 60,000 people across the country who write letters, hold protests, dish out leaflets, run branches and highlight waste are essential to our work, and dealing with our supporters has been a refreshing and enjoyable experience.

Given how much fun it has been, I am of course sad to be moving on. I don’t imagine that there is any workplace or team in the world that is quite like the TPA. However, I’m also excited to be taking on new challenges, and a new role, elsewhere. I will of course remain involved with the TPA as an active supporter, and I am also launching today my own website at http://www.crashbangwallace.com/ to continue to produce political comment and news stories in a personal capacity.

To everyone who has made the last two and a half years so enjoyable and instructive, thank you. We have made a huge difference to the country already – and I’m sure the TPA will go on to achieve even more”.
Read the all of Mark's goodbye blog here.
Good luck, Mark. As a lifelong member of the TPA family we're sure we haven't seen the last of you!
Prevent Grants Abolished
On Wednesday we heard that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) would stop issuing Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) grants to local authorities. This is very welcome news – in September last year we released research that detailed for the first time what organisations these grants went to, and how much they received. We found that while the fund was underpinned with good intentions, it was no substitute for good policing. Muslim groups were the near sole beneficiaries of the scheme, which caused four major problems: there was no real way to track grants once given out, it stigmatised the Muslim community as potential terrorists, other faith groups felt that they were being sidelined, and other types of extremism were being ignored. So in our paper we called for it to be scrapped. We repeated the call in our book How to cut public spending (and still win an election) and listed it as a manifesto pledge.

Though it’s great news that DCLG have decided to follow our lead and abolish the scheme, it’s crucial that the government do not simply shift the goalposts. All too often organisations or schemes are supposedly scrapped, only to have their functions and funding transferred somewhere else – this should not be allowed to happen with prevent grants. Giving the scheme a different name or moving the money to a different department means the misallocation of taxpayers’ money will continue. Scrapping should mean scrapping – and that’s something we’d readily applaud.

NHS White paper
Healthcare was right at the top of the agenda during the election. It’s an emotive topic, and all of the politicians used it to its full force during the debates, but in truth, the NHS needs to be radically overhauled. The current system is too centralised, overly-managed by politicians and too closed off to competition. So the new white paper on the NHS released on Tuesday was eagerly anticipated. And there are certainly some good things in it.

For one, the running theme of patient choice and clinician-led care is very positive, and Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities – layers of bureaucracy that implemented Whitehall targets – will be abolished. However, there are some concerns, too. There will be new quangos to become familiar with – the snappily titled HealthWatch England will champion patient power and the Public Health Service will hold councils to account, as they will now take charge of public health. They will also be statutorily required to hire directors of public health. Such moves just beget more bureaucracy, not strip it away. The white paper also fails to tackle centralised pay bargaining, or even mention the supercomputer. But key to any and all of the proposals is transparency – hospitals and the new GP consortia must be accountable to taxpayers so that they are driven by delivering the best healthcare possible at value for money.
EU Flags

In the absence of a genuinely ‘European’ identity, the EU depends heavily on symbols like its flag to reinforce its legitimacy. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has become a particularly keen waver of the EU flag, hanging it proudly next to the Union Jack on many of its buildings. In the last year alone it purchased 51 ‘gold’n’blues’. But just how much are UK taxpayers paying for this flag waving? New research from the TPA based on Freedom of Information requests reveals the cost of the hundreds of flags the FCO buys in order to wave the banner of the EU around the world.

Click here to read the full report http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/EUflags.pdf
Help the cause!
Very often bulletin readers get in touch to ask how they can help the TPA campaign and, indeed, the low-tax cause in a meaningful, practical way. Now of course there are many, many ways you can lend a hand, but here's a list of just four useful things to be getting on with:

1. Vote for our suggestions on the Government's Spending Challenge website (you'll need to register!):http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/author/matthewsinclair
2. Look out for local spending consultations and participate. Some local councils are sending out questionnaires seeking your views, so keep your eyes peeled and take any opportunities to have your say!

3. If you spot any wasteful spending, particular in your town or region, then let us know by emailingfiona.mcevoy@taxpayersalliance.com. And if it's something physical, take a photograph and send it to us!
4. Donate! It's never easy asking for money, but the TPA survives on generous contributions from our supporters. If you feel you could give an amount to help us in our ongoing campaign for low taxes and less government waste thenclick here for our paypal account, or send a cheque payable to the TaxPayers' Alliance to 55 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3QL. We're very appreciative of all help received.
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 18:02