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The clock keeps on ticking

In the seven days since you (hopefully) read our last weekly bulletin, the country has added almost £2.7 billion to the national debt. We won’t be offended if you can’t bring yourself to watch it tick up yourself, but I’m afraid we’re going to be sending you regular reminders. If you fancy ruining the rest of your Sunday, do feel free to take a look ([link removed]) .

For a lot of people though, the debt clock is just a number, or rather lots of numbers, on a screen. What does it actually mean in practice for taxpayers? Probably the most immediate impact is the cost to the Treasury of servicing the debt, i.e. paying the interest. One of our research whizz-kids had the idea of looking at how much interest we pay on the debt every year and seeing what it could pay for instead.

We almost rather he didn’t. In research published in the Express ([link removed]) , it turned out that the £102 billion spent on debt interest would pay for all Labour’s spending pledges, or the abolition of about a dozen taxes. As Shimeon pointed out, “the choices made today will impact governments of tomorrow.” Check out the research here ([link removed]) .

Of course it’s all very well complaining about the debt, but what are the actual solutions? Well the TPA has never shied away from offering ideas, however difficult they may be. With perfect timing our research team produced an extraordinary report ([link removed]) into the generosity of public sector pension schemes that was covered in The Telegraph ([link removed]) . Turns out that public sector workers can expect to retire on a pension of almost four times the size of those in the private sector.

Our findings certainly ruffled some feathers. Former editor of The Sun newspaper, Kelvin MacKenzie seethed in an op-ed ([link removed]) that if the chancellor really wanted to balance the books, “she would freeze the gold-plated pensions of state employees.”
Our head of campaigns, Elliot Keck, followed up in the GB News studio, where he told Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg ([link removed]) that “the reality is that in the public sector they work fewer hours on average than those in the private sector, they have more annual leave, higher pay… and on top of that they have access to a pension scheme that is now essentially inaccessible to those in the private sector.”
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It’s about time that politicians were honest with the public (and themselves) about the state of the finances. We’re going to be holding their feet to the fire, as we always do. But we can’t do it without your help.

Chip in to the TPA’s fighting fund here ([link removed])
Yet another surge in the size of the civil service

Ever since our revelations on the number of civil servants hit two front pages last summer, our researchers have been keeping a close eye for the latest data. When that data duly dropped they were quick out of the traps to identify the key trends.

In what was their third research paper in just one week, they made some truly shocking discoveries. Turns out that the civil service added 23,060 new pen-pushers to its ranks, more than double the increase of the previous year. In addition, all grades enjoyed inflation-busting pay rises. But the really shocking finding, which made its way onto the front page of The Telegraph ([link removed]) , was that the number with salaries over £100,000 soared to 2,915. With Labour ditching plans ([link removed]) to cut the number of civil servants, our research couldn’t have been more timely.
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John spoke for taxpayers everywhere, telling anyone in government who will listen that it should be “radically transforming our bureaucracy towards one focused on key services.” Needless to say, our research team deserve a relaxing Sunday after their week dominating the agenda.

Click to read more ([link removed])
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news

A pattern of waste ([link removed])

Rachel Reeves seemed to be on the right page when she declared that public bodies need to crack down on waste. But where is the spare change she is searching for going? Unfortunately it’s going to new quangos and boosts to public sector pay, not back into the pockets of taxpayers.
In an attempt to try and be helpful though, our investigations guru Joanna Marchong, produced a shocking audit ([link removed]) of waste in the public sector for the chancellor to draw on.. She managed to uncover £1.5 billion in wasted cash … enough to cover the change to the winter fuel allowance.
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Joanna couldn’t have put it better when she told The Sun ([link removed]) : “Taxpayers will be flabbergasted by the scale of waste in the public sector. It's no wonder ministers haven't got any cash left, but they should remember that it is Brits who will suffer."

Will they ever crack down on fraud? ([link removed])

It’s never a dull week at TPA towers, and regular readers I’m sure will be delighted to find out that this week I made my broadcast debut, chatting to the legendary Mike Graham about the pressing topic of benefit fraud.
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As I explained to Talk listeners ([link removed]) “this commitment is certainly welcome, but this comes two weeks after the DWP essentially waved the white flag on this issue and said they expect fraud to go up every single year.”

Robbing Peter to pay Paul ([link removed])

It was a week when the TPA really dominated the news agenda. Analysis we shared with the good folks at the ([link removed]) Telegraph ([link removed]) revealed ([link removed]) that taxpayers in England are having to foot the bill for free prescriptions in Wales and Scotland. The majority of people in England have to pay for their prescriptions, which are rising in price year on year.
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John didn't hold back: “This clearly shows that the Scottish government is happy to milk British taxpayers to pay for freebies, from prescriptions to university fees.The new Labour government should look at trimming the Scotland subsidy as one of its options for repairing the public finances.”
Blog of the week

Why raising capital gains tax is a lose, lose ([link removed])

There’s lots of talk about which taxes the chancellor will raise to plug the hole in the finances, or pay for her many spending plans, depending on your point of view. One we hear a lot about is capital gains tax. In this week’s blog ([link removed]) , TPA researcher, Jonathan Eida, decided to dig into whether this is really the solution Reeves might hope
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Having reviewed the numbers, Jonathan has discovered that this could actually lose the Treasury money. As he explains: “Capital gains are the purest result of investment transitions. To increase taxes on capital gains is to directly disincentivise investment. It will directly impact the UK’s economic standing, and not in a positive way.”

Click to read more ([link removed])
War on Waste
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After burning the midnight oil putting together that shocking audit of government waste, Joanna was relieved to have the topic for her latest war on waste video handed on a plate to her. Because The Telegraph recently reported that Hull City Council were handed £200,000 in levelling up funding which they duly dished out to… a Wendy’s. Click here to watch the video. ([link removed])

Please send me your examples of wasteful public sector spending (mailto:[email protected])

Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager

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