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TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 7 October 2011 Conservative Party conference round-up Get your 50p lapel pin Council Tax freeze Winning the fight against taxpayer funding of trade unions Grassroots: Shropshire Action Day, 15 October Best of the Blogs Conservative Party conference round-up It was another hugely successful year for us at the Conservative Party Conference and a big thank you to all of you who came to see us in the Freedom Zone. Both Fraser Nelson, Editor of the Spectator, and Tim Montgomerie, Editor of ConservativeHome, agreed that the real action wasn’t behind the police cordon in the secure conference area but at the Freedom Zone where we were based. Our panel discussion - “We need to talk about Europe” - was spectacularly well attended by more than 250 people, with standing room only at the back. Sadly Priti Patel MP could not make it due to illness, but Douglas Carswell MP, Tim Montgomerie and Patrick O’Flynn, Chief Political Commentator at the Daily Express, gave rousing speeches and videos will be up on our You Tube channel shortly. We’ll also post them on our website so keep an eye out if you couldn’t make it to Manchester and want to see what you missed. At our event on council spending we heard from the leaders of the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead and Hammersmith & Fulham councils. Cllr David Burbage and Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh offered practical advice and personal experiences on how to reduce Town Hall spending and cut council tax. Bob Neill MP, the Minister for Local Government, also explained what central government was doing to help out. Two other events on digital policy and cutting taxes both saw lively discussion and debate, with panellists, including MPs, able to speak freely and exchange ideas without being shackled by the restrictions of a speech inside the conference secure zone. Get your "Scrap the 50p Tax Rate" lapel pin At the Conservative Party conference we launched our novel lapel pin badge which allows you to show your support for the scrapping of the 50p tax band. Evidence is piling up that the 50p rate pushes businesses away from Britain, reduces the number of jobs being created and - crucially - fails to generate any additional revenue for the Exchequer. Our badges were sported in Manchester by numerous supporters of the campaign including lots of MPs: Wellingborough MP Peter Bone wore his in a discussion with Andrew Neil on BBC2's Daily Politics (pictured), whilst TPA Political Director Jonathan Isaby keenly pinned them to the lapels of many supporters, including MPs Brian Binley and Sheryll Murray and Martin Calllanan MEP, who leads the Tory group in Brussels. Senior backbencher David Davis was also among those spotted wearing one, according to this blog post on Iain Dale's website. They certainly attracted the attention of the media too, getting coverage in the Guardian, the Herald and Economist. Now you can get hold of one for yourself: they are £1.50 each or you can order five for £5 (all prices including P&P) by sending a cheque (payable to The TaxPayers' Alliance) to The TaxPayers' Alliance, 55 Tufton St, London, SW1P 3QL. Alternatively, email us if you'd like to pay via PayPal. Council Tax freeze On Monday it was announced that the Government would again assist local authorities in freezing council tax. This is a nice gesture but it doesn’t really go far enough - there's more on that in this blog here. Council tax has nearly doubled in the past decade yet residents haven’t seen the same corresponding improvement in services. Councils should prepare to fund future freezes or cuts themselves; in the long run Whitehall shouldn’t have to make up the difference. There are local authorities that have shown in recent years that it is possible to cut spending, work more efficiently and cut council tax without affecting services and other councils should learn from their example. Progress on ending taxpayer funding of unions Another announcement from Eric Pickles to cheer our hearts: an end to the ultimate non-job, taxpayer-funded trade union activists. Last year we exposed the £67.5 million cost of funding these activists and we have consistently argued that it isn’t the job of the taxpayer to fund the trade unions. If trade union reps want time off to do union work, the unions should pay for it, not taxpayers. They can afford to pay their leaders six figure sums and they collect membership fees from their own supporters. As they don’t have to pay for this staff time they can use the money they save for political campaigns and donations to political parties. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund organisations that work directly against the best interests of the taxpayer, yet the unions will go on strike on November 30th - playing havoc with the lives of ordinary taxpayers - in an attempt to maintain their generous pensions. When times are tough, the Government is making necessary cutbacks and families are tightening their belts, it's wrong to launch disruptive strikes to defend pensions far more lucrative than most taxpayers enjoy. Less than 48 hours after the annoucement signalling an end to the unions' taxpayer subsidy, it was revealed that more than half a million pounds is spent each year on union staff working in the Scottish Executive. This is going on across Whitehall, quangos, local government and other public bodies and our message is clear: it's time to end taxpayer funding for trade union activists. Grassroots: Shropshire Action Day, Saturday 15 October In last week's bulletin we announced the formation of a new Shropshire Branch. We can now confirm that we will be holding an Action Day in Wellington, near Telford, on Saturday 15 October, starting at 11.30am. We will have a table set up with some TPA merchandise in Market Square, near the railway station, and we will also be collecting signatures for a petition calling for the new chief executive of Telford and Wrekin Council to take a 10 per cent pay cut. During these very difficult economic times, it is important that all those with large salaries in the public sector set an example and help reduce costs for taxpayers. If you are able to attend then please contact our National Grassroots Coordinator, Andrew Allison. Afterwards you are more than welcome to join us for a late lunch, and some liquid refreshment! Event: Shropshire Action Day When: 11.30am, Saturday 15 October Where: Market Square, Wellington. Best of the Blogs Burning our Money: Non-job of the week - In the latest non-job of the week Andrew Allison looks at high paid chief executive jobs at quangos that are on offer Campaign: A victory in the campaign to stop taxpayer funding of the unions - An end to taxpayer funded trade union activists that cost £250 million? Eric Pickles' announcement is a big victory for taxpayers and the TaxPayers' Alliance Economics 101: FSA Chairman Lord Turner calls for greater central planning in banking -The chairman of the FSA wants central allocation of credit. Rory Meakin on how central planning of this sort is a bad idea Grassroots: Nottingham’s parking levy - Nottingham City Council are set to introduce a levy on staff parking for businesses in Nottingham Burning our money: Watchdog charges £6m on perks - The Health and Safety Executive have been spending taxpayers' money on designer handbags, fine dining and flights abroad