In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the national debt has increased by more than Ā£20,000.Ā
That's why this week we relaunched our ticking debt clock! 15 years after our original groundbreaking campaign publicising the extent of the UKās national debt, the clock now shows debt standing at over Ā£2.5 trillion and increasing by an eye-watering Ā£382 million per day!
While the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, used the start of the week to claim a Ā£22 billion black hole in the public finances, (check out researcher Callum McGoldrickās interview on Talk for more on that one here), we werenāt about to let her forget the far larger, and more depressing, true problem - the UKās monstrous levels of debt. In a video to accompany the launch, William Yarwood, our media campaign manager, took aim at decades of government for ignoring this issue: āThe inheritance of future generations has been stolen by gluttonous politicians putting political gain before the peopleās priorities!ā
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The debt clock doesnāt simply tell you where the debt currently stands, though I admit itās hard not to keep looking at it, itās packed with information to keep you (and the politicians in Westminster) informed about just what a mess weāre in. From how big your householdās share of the debt is (Ā£89,351), to how long you could fully fund the NHS for (14 years), to how many new aircraft carriers we could buy (668), itās jam packed with useful information. Click here to see how many Big Macs you could buy.
Joking aside, the state of the public finances should be ringing alarm bells in the corridors of power. Writing in City A.M., John OāConnell, our chief executive, issued a stark warning to politicians of all colours: āFor years, we operated under the illusion that our burgeoning debt was manageable due to astonishingly low interest rates following the financial crash. While Labour may moan about Tory austerity, in fact over the last 14 years the story has been that public spending has continued to rise at a rate far higher than GDPā¦ But this era of cheap money has ended, the spending binge is over, and we must all live with the hangover.ā
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Speaking on GB News, who broadcast the debt clock live throughout his interview, Elliot Keck, our head of campaigns, explained to viewers: āWhen we think about the consequences of politicians ignoring the public finances for not just years but decades, the result is that thereās a huge range of things that weād love to pay for, a huge range of taxes weād love to cut, that we canāt as a result of this national debt.ā In the time it takes the debt to tick up another Ā£1.5 million, you can watch Elliotās full interview here.
The scale of this problem cannot be underestimated. Last year, we spent over Ā£100 billion just servicing the interest on the UKās debt mountain. Money that could have been used to cut taxes or fund frontline services. Itās time for politicians to wake up and get serious about tackling our national debt!
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Introducingā¦ Quango Watch
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If thereās one thing William really doesnāt like (aside from debt of course), itās quangos. While heās certainly not alone in having little love for these āarms lengthā bodies that exercise so much control over our lives, Iāve never met someone this passionate about them. Well, now heās got a new way to channel all this anger.
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The first of a monthly column for CapX, Quango Watch, was published earlier this week. With Labour already having announced a number of new quangos, this regular article will keep us all up to date on the latest ways these increasingly undemocratic and unaccountable organisations are taking over our lives. Have a read of Williamās debut article here.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Taking taxpayers (and patients) for mugs
After GPs voted to take industrial action and adopt a āwork-to-ruleā approach, the British Medical Association (BMA), basically the trade union for doctors, sent out options for how our family doctors could bring the health service to āa standstillā.
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Amongst the range of options from the BMA is a proposal that surgeries turn off software that helps doctors choose cost-efficient medicines, saving the NHS, and therefore taxpayers, money. Elliot was furious when he heard and raged to the Telegraph: āAny GP considering this kind of disgusting behaviour should be utterly ashamed of themselves. Measures designed to save money for taxpayers are being undermined by activist doctors who are willing to burn the cash of their patients to achieve their ends.ā It is essential that ministers legislate against this kind of action and donāt cave in to blackmail.
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Indefensible MoD pension pots
The extravagances of public sector pensions are well known, see our report on mandarin millionaires here, but even we were left in shock when we learnt what some officials in the Ministry of Defence have stashed away. Just five senior defence officials have nest eggs with a combined value of more than Ā£11 million! One of them came in at a jaw-dropping Ā£4.5 million.
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John gave these gold-plated pensions both barrels when he spoke to the Daily Mail: āThese multi-million-pound pension pots are frankly impossible to defend. Taxpayers will absolutely support a boost in the defence budget and recognise the need to ensure our military is well equipped and fairly paid. But that means funds going to the frontline, not being used to pay for luxury retirements.ā Hear, hear!
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Bonus for Border Force chief
With our borders seemingly in continual chaos, you might think money would be focussed on making Border Force fit for purpose, not lining the pockets of officials. Well, Iām afraid youād be wrong. It turns out, the head of Border Force was awarded a bonus of Ā£15 - 20K last year according to government accounts!
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Joanna Marchong, our investigations campaign manager, slammed the shameless bung, telling Sun readers: āOur borders are in a state of perpetual crisis, yet the top dog is being given an almighty pat on the back. If ministers want to find savings, they could crack down on bonuses to incompetent bureaucrats.ā Itās time to stop rewarding failure!
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Bureaucracy versus Badenoch
In this weekās blog, Elliot has taken a look at the curious case of Tory leadership contender, Kemi Badenoch, asking officials to cover a holiday flight to the US and why her rejection might reveal the failings of our bureaucracy.
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While on the face of it this looks to be taking the mickey, when you dig into the details, itās not quite as clear cut. It turns out that the then trade secretary was to be in Mexico on government business, and asked officials to cover a flight to Texas rather than London. Elliot explains: āNow, it doesnāt take an aviation expert to work out that a flight from Mexico to Texas would be a fraction of the cost of a flight from Mexico to London. So it turns out, the actual story was that a government minister made a concerted effort to save her department and taxpayers a fair bit of money. Unsurprisingly, given the way the British bureaucracy works, the computer said no.āĀ
While rules are there for a reason and taxpayers shouldnāt be paying for the holidays of ministers, sometimes a bit of commonsense might save us a pretty penny. Have a read of Elliotās blog here.
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Joannaās latest War on Waste investigation has the MoD firmly in the crosshairs. This week, Joanna reveals that the MoD ran up a bill of more than Ā£4 million on flights, hotels, restaurants, and bars in just three months - almost enough to cover a pension. Check it out here.
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Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
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