Britannia Radio

TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 13 May 2011 Rally Against Debt The Rally Against Debt is just a day away now and we’ve been excitedly making the final preparations here at TPA-towers. We’re really looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Old Palace Yard, Westminster tomorrow from 11am. With more talk of further EU bailouts in the news this week there’s no better time to come together and make our voices heard. Do bring your friends, a banner or a placard if you’d like to and don’t forget your camera if you’d like to take some pictures on the day. It’s set to be warm and sunny on Saturday morning, fantastic weather to be outside rallying! If you use Twitter you will be able to follow tweets from or about the rally on the day by using the hashtags#RallyAgainstDebt or #RAD. Please do share your photos, videos and experiences with us through Facebook, Twitter, or simply e-mail us after the event and we’ll put the best contributions on our website. Above all, we hope that everyone enjoys themselves, while taking the opportunity to make a serious point about the importance of dealing with Britain’s horrific national debt. Keep your eyes peeled for our Debt Clock as it tours the streets of Westminster throughout the morning, ticking up the national debt and drawing attention to our cause. There’s also the opportunity to hear from a range of speakers at the rally - click here to see who’s turning up to talk. If you need a reminder of the reasons behind the rally, why not take a look at our Why Rally Against Debt fact sheet, or check out the official website FAQ. And if you’re on Facebook, why not join the official event page? High Speed Rail Event While supporters of the HS2 high speed rail proposals have been touring the country with a taxpayer-funded propaganda roadshow, we thought we’d have our own ‘Cancel HS2’ event here. We invited members of the media, policy makers and MPs to come along to a meeting with speakers from a range of groups: Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance Geoffrey Robinson MP, Labour for Coventry North West Andrea Leadsom MP, Conservative for South Northamptonshire Jenny Jones, London Mayoral Candidate for the Green Party Alice Barnard, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance Professor Stephen Glaister, Director of the RAC Foundation Jerry Marshall, Chairman of AGAHST You can watch videos of all the speeches from the day here, or read previous TaxPayers' Alliance research on High Speed Rail: • On the business case for HS2 • Looking at capacity claims • On the claim that HS2 would create jobs One Year On Before the General Election last year the TPA produced a Manifesto on which we pledged to judge any new Government. Wednesday marked the one year anniversary since the Coalition Government was formed and we released our assessment of how they have measured up against our objectives so far. The Manifesto set out recommendations in three areas – tax & spending, reforming services and democracy & transparency – and divided them between measures where we wanted to see action within three months, one year and five years. We have scored each individual Manifesto aim from 0 to 5, with 0 meaning no progress at all and 5 meaning it has been satisfied or a clear path has been set out for it to happen. We produced a similar summary after three months and some of the ratings have changed since then, for example we have downgraded the Government’s performance on abolishing quangos from a 3/5 to a 2/5 after the bonfire of the quangos sizzled out in the Autumn. But even since we published the assessment on Wednesday, the Coalition’s policy of establishing elected Police Commissioners has taken a knock in Parliament. It shows the need for the TPA – and our supporters – to keep our eyes peeled and hold the Government to account on our pledges to make sure that initial promises are delivered upon, and that in other areas we will keep campaigning for significant change. You can read the document in full here. Grassroots Update As councils around the country look to save money, many of them are employing additional staff. In our 'non-job of the week' feature, we have highlighted various change managers, a Future Shape Programme Manager, and this week, a Smarter Workplaces Programme Manager. Councils already employ a vast array of managers, many of them on six-figure salaries, whose job is to ensure their departments are run efficiently. If you spot similar vacancies being advertised, you can respond in three ways: • Contact us so we can highlight it on our website • Write to your councillor and ask why the council is spending your money in this way • Write a letter to your local newspaper Unless councils are challenged as to why they are employing people in these 'non-jobs' they will continue to do so. Best of the Blogs Better Government: Where is the localism? - John O'Connell on the Lords rejecting elected police commissioners Burning our Money: Non-job of the week - Andrew Allison on Walsall's Smarter Workplaces Programme Manager Campaign: EU bailouts remind us to rally against debt - Rory Meakin with the latest on British taxpayers having to fork out yet more money for bailouts Campaign: Evidence continues to show that the taxpayer picks up too big a bill for the public sector payroll - Charlotte Linacre explains how pay in the public sector is outstripping that in the private sector, at a growing rate too Grassroots: Bath taxpayers ignored - Tim Newark on how Bath council halt work on a new bus lane after failing to consult with local residents