"The Expensive Failure of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme"(PDF) Author: Matthew Sinclair Publication date: October 2009 The report is highly critical of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) which according to the author has increased the cost of energy for households, businesses and other organisations. The report estimates that the ETS cost British […]
"Relative Transport Spending"(PDF) Authors: The Taxpayers' Alliance and The Drivers' Alliance Publication date: 20 October 2009 This report acknowledges that the transport budget is likely to face some substantial cuts in the next few years with one projection of £29billion cuts over the next ten years. This report details the massive discrepancies between the amounts […]
Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers Alliance believes that town twinning may once have been a justified cause for municipal spending – but no longer. It’s become such a cliché for every possible town to be twinned with numerous obscure places around the world that it has become a joke, from The Simpsons to comedy club […]
"NHS Machines – Utilisation of high-value equipment at NHS Trusts"(PDF) Author: Katherine Andrew Publication date: September 2009 This report deals with the efficient use of the high-value machines used at NHS sites. The report claims that there is a great variation between how effectively NHS Trusts use high value equipment. In the age of financial […]
"EU Diplomats"(PDF) Author: Dr Lee Rotherham. Foreword by Sir Antony Acland. Publication date: September 2009 The report details the burgeoning EU Diplomatic service which according to the author is allowing the EU to develop an identity on the world stage in its own right. The report states the EU has a budget of £3.4billion a […]
"How to save £50billion – Reducing spending for sustainable public finance"(PDF) Authors: Corin Taylor, Ben Farugia, John O'Connell, Mike Denham and Matthew Sinclair Publication date: September 2009 This report contains a list of 32 specific suggestions for saving £50billion – £42.5billion of annual savings from 2010-2011 onwards and a further £7.5billion of annual savings which […]
Mark Wallace of The Taxpayers Alliance says the lack of proper budgeting for an arts project in Newcastle has cauased the EU to pull out – leaving local Council Taxpayers to pick up the bill. I first brought up Newcastle City Council’s misguided arts ventures in this column back in April. Five months and at […]
"Taxpayer Funded Lobbying and Political Campaigning"(PDF) Author: Matthew Sinclair Publication date: August 2009 This report exposes the £37million of taxpayers' money which was spent on funding lobbying and political campaigning in 2007-8. This amount is spent by both national and local government and think tanks and public affairs companies have been among the beneficiaries. Whilst […]
"The Case Against Boosting MPs Pay"(PDF) Author: The Taxpayers' Alliance Publication date: August 2009 This report rebuts the commonly held view that the recent scandal over parliamentary allowances to MPs is caused by their basic salary remaining low. The report suggests that even taking into account the basic salary for a backbench MP they receive a […]
"Can tax increases solve the United Kingdom's public finance crisis?"(PDF) Authors: The Taxpayers' Alliance and Centre for Economics and Business Research Publication date: July 2009 This report belies the popular belief that only tax increases will solve the UK's public finance crisis. The authors use three different models – an optimistic model (using the Treasury's figures), […]
Mark Wallace of The TaxPayers' Alliance doesn't like Birmingham's Central Library but he's even less keen on the city council's plans to spend £193m demolishing and replacing it. Like their national counterparts, local politicians are often susceptible to the lure of building expensive vanity projects or white elephants. Sometimes this is down to a desire […]
By Mark Wallace of The TaxPayers' Alliance. As Harry reported on this blog on Thursday, it is the time of year when the Local Government Association publish their annual survey of the scale of the allowances dished out to councillors at every local authority in England. And lo, it came to pass – with one […]
Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance welcomes the Conservative leader's pledge to bring transparency to public sector pay. He sees it as a sign of a changing public mood on remuneration in local and national government. The controversial issue of public sector – and particularly town hall – pay has hit the headlines again this […]
Mark Wallace is Campaign Director of The TaxPayers' Alliance. Local government can be a complex place. Not only are there over 400 different councils, in a variety of shapes, formats and sizes, there are the regional and local development quangos established by central government. On top of all that, there are the quangos that councils […]
Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers' Alliance explains how the latest TPA research unveils a marked increase in the number of Town Hall employees earning over £100,000 – and names and shames the councils still resisting publishing such information. It’s that time of year again – the Town Hall Rich List, in which the TaxPayers’ Alliance […]