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TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 11 November 2011 - Excessive motoring taxes revealed - Torquil Norman video interview - Bath action day - Grassroots profile: Rosie Greer - Supporter prize winner - Best of the blogs Excessive motoring taxes revealed ahead of Commons debate Just days ahead of a vote in Parliament on fuel taxes and we're ramping up the pressure on MPs to listen to hard-pressed drivers. We've just released new research that shows for the first time how excessive motoring taxes affect drivers in urban, suburban and rural areas very differently. Drivers paid £31.5 billion in motoring taxes in 2009, a gargantuan sum that is evidence that the current rate of Fuel Duty cannot be justified by the need for spending on the roads and the contribution of road transport to climate change. For those who live in small towns or rural areas, a car is often the only practical way of getting to work or accessing services. The future of motoring taxes is set to be debated again on 15th November 2011 and we're calling on George Osborne to bring in at the very least a freeze for the rest of this Parliament. Click here to read our latest report and if you haven't already done so please sign Rob Halfon MP's petition calling for “cheaper petrol and diesel” and share it with your friends. New video content: Torquil Norman interview We have uploaded exciting new video content of Torquil Norman, founder of The Roundhouse Trust, in conversation with our Campaign Director Emma Boon. He is known not just for his work with disadvantaged young people through the Camden-based charity, but also for his book, Kick the Tyres, Light the Fires, which contains his proposals on how to tackle the maladies of twenty-first century British society. Torquil Norman's ideas about how to give young people more self worth and get them back into the idea of work have clearly captured the imagination of those in Westminster with David Cameron recently putting forward the idea of community service for the long term unemployed. Watch the video here. Bath action day Tim Newark led the Bath & South-West TaxPayers’ Alliance team in a highly successful action day last Saturday. They were gathering signatures on a petition calling for the next Bath council boss to take a pay cut of £50,000 from the current sum of £210,000 (including pension benefits) to £160,000. It was sparked by the incoming Chief Executive of Islington Borough Council, Lesley Seary, volunteering a similar pay cut. The action day caught the attention of the local newspaper who followed up with a story about it, picturing local supporters Matt Showering, Ben Lodge and Tim Newark. Grassroots profile: Rosie Greer We recently announced that we now have a new branch in Northern Ireland. Continuing our regular profiles of grassroots activists, today we look at Rosie Greer, our new grassroots coordinator in Northern Ireland. Rosie has lived in Co. Down, Northern Ireland for 52 years. She has enjoyed a varied career path, from stable and livery yard management, to office management and bookkeeping for small family run companies, and more recently providing care for the elderly. With two adult children and a relatively normalised political situation in Northern Ireland she is passionate about drawing attention to mismanagement of public funds and promoting prudent political decision making. You can read Rosie's first blog here. If you would like to help Rosie get better value for money for taxpayers in Northern Ireland, please contact National Grassroots Coordinator,Andrew Allison. Supporter prize winner Congratulation to Simon from Bridport who won this month's supporter prize! We've contacted Simon already and he has £100 of Amazon vouchers and a signed copy of Matthew Sinclair's new book Let Them Eat Carbon on their way to him. Let your family and friends know they could be the next winner if they sign up today, and become part of our exiciting campaign to look out for taxpayers' interests. Best of the Blogs European Union: The EU's accounts are not signed off... again - In Europe, it seems, nothing is certain but death, taxes and EU fraud. Burning our Money: Pension double-dipping - Retire, convert your pension into a lump sum, and then jump straight back into your old job? Grassroots: A sad day for democracy in East Yorkshire - Council standards committees were set up as a way of disciplining councillors and investigating sleaze, not as a way to stifle debate or force councillors to toe the line. Burning our Money: Chief Fire Officers Association - Why are we funding the Chief Fire Officers Association, asks Andrew Allison. Grassroots: False Economies - The determination of local councils to cut services rather than tackle their own waste is breathtaking, writes Tim Newark.