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On Monday, the cabinet at South Cambridgeshire district council voted to press ahead with their reckless four-day week trial. Despite thousands of people backing our campaign and signing our petition, town hall bosses are pressing ahead even though their own data shows their performance deteriorating in 10 key areas when compared to pre-covid ratings.
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Reacting to the decision in comments that featured in some of Britain’s leading newspapers and media outlets, including GB News, and the Daily Telegraph, our investigations campaign manager, Elliot Keck, slammed the scheme saying: “Despite the trial’s disappointing results that even council bosses have struggled to spin, South Cambridgeshire are rolling the dice with taxpayers’ cash on the line.” Our media campaign manager, Conor Holohan called out the council’s decision on local radio too, summing it up for Heart Cambridge listeners: “Services have taken a hit. There’s no saving to the taxpayer, they’re getting a worse service.”
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To top it all off, in a devastating full page op-ed which led the comment pages in the Daily Mail, our managing director James Roberts dismantled the arguments for a taxpayer-funded four-day week. And he issued a stark warning to those concerned about how bureaucrats spend their money: “Despite the fallacious claims that the scheme has been successful, and the cheerleading of its trade-union supporters, the four-day week has been a disaster for afflicted taxpayers. And make no mistake, it could very soon be coming to a council or quango near you.”
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Our fightback against council fat cats goes on. For the first leg of our Town Hall Rich List Roadshow, our team visited Guildford where the former managing director raked in a mega ÂŁ607,000 in 2021-22. We challenged residents to drop a pin on a map, locating the council with the highest pay packet.
Local taxpayers were shocked to learn that it was their council that topped our Town Hall Rich List with the highest remunerated individual in the country! Even the local MP, Angela Richardson, popped along to hear more and lend her support.
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On Wednesday, we’ll be visiting Dorchester, home of Dorset county council, who racked up the highest number of employees on over ÂŁ100k in the south west, with 23 members of staff taking home the big bucks!Â
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Hunt’s stealth hikes
When the chancellor announced that income tax thresholds would be frozen until 2027/28, we warned that this would drag unsuspecting taxpayers into higher and higher tax bands, a tax hike by another name.
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We now know that by the time the freeze comes to an end, around one in seven UK adults will be paying at least the 40 per cent tax rate. After our digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, wrote a blistering op-ed in the Daily Express, then TPA policy analyst, Tom Ryan, took a deep dive look at just how harmful these stealth tax rises really are in a piece for CapX. As Tom says: “Chances of social mobility are being surrendered on the altar of ever higher state spending. A tax rate designed for the few is now being charged to the many.”
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Cash for criminals
There was outrage in the TPA office this week when we learned that Albanian criminals were being given £1,500 of taxpayers’ money before being returned home.
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Speaking to the Daily Express, I blasted the deportation bungs, saying: “This dosh for deportees will shock taxpayers. Removing people here illegally is already too costly and complex, without these pointless handouts.”Â
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Convicts’ costly catering
Despite the number of prisoners in Scotland falling, their food bill has risen by 29 per cent in just four years.
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Whilst food costs have undoubtedly increased, our chief executive John O’Connell sounded a note of caution to the Scottish Sun, warning: “Prison bosses need to ensure that they are securing the best value for taxpayers’ money.”
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April War on Waste round-up
In this week’s blog, Elliot brings us the latest from our War on Waste campaign, and sadly, his investigations found that April was not a good month for careful use of taxpayers’ money.
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From ambulances being delayed by low traffic neighbourhoods, to taxpayer funding for lobby groups, to the costs of storing PPE, Elliot asks: “When will the government get a grip?”
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Regular readers will know we’ve long been naming and shaming councils with empty offices and unused commercial premises, leaving our high streets hollow. Sadly, Gloucester city council don’t seem to have got the message.Â
Having been empty since 2019, three of their seven-storey buildings have now become liable for business rates which will cost local taxpayers ÂŁ80,000! Town hall bosses must get a grip of their property portfolios and sell off surplus buildings.
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Benjamin Elks
Operations Manager
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