Amidst the ongoing fallout from last week’s budget, the new leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, started fleshing out her top team, those she hopes will help her lead the Tories back to power.Â
Having run a campaign that largely shied away from concrete policy proposals, taxpayers will rightly have a lot of questions about what Badenoch plans to offer voters. While the TPA is strictly non-partisan (we’re not here to tell you who to vote for), we are always happy to give some advice to those who have their eyes on the corridors of power.
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If Kemi wants to set out some basic principles to get started with, she could do a lot worse than our mantra: Cut waste, cut debt, cut taxes. But digging into the weeds a little, our head of campaigns, Elliot Keck, used a blog post this week to offer the Conservatives a solid place to start and five policies that should be front and centre. From reforming public sector pensions to the abolition of stamp duty, Elliot’s suggestions would certainly help tackle some of the country's pressing issues, issues which the current lot seem to have no interest in solving..
With her team in place at the start of the week, we were joined by the new shadow secretary of state for business and trade, Andrew Griffith, for the latest episode of a nation of taxpayers. Focussing in on the burdens placed on businesses, Andrew’s assessment was certainly a breath of fresh air: “Every single action that we’ve seen from this government suggests they don’t understand business… There is an illiteracy about the cost of regulation.” Be sure to listen to the latest episode here.
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Faced with a record high tax burden, runaway spending, and growth stagnating, having answers to these problems is essential for whoever sits in Number 10. For the policy makers who read this email, those from all parties and none, we’re always happy to give you some tips.
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Wrong priorities in Wolverhampton
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Anyone who follows our work knows all too well we like to keep a close eye on what councils are up to and how they’re spending your money. So when we heard that Wolverhampton city council planned to hand their chief executive a £36,000 pay rise while cutting services and increasing council tax, we knew we couldn’t sit idly by.
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On Wednesday, members of our team were joined by local residents and opposition councillors to take a stand against the move as the council gathered to vote on the proposals. As I explained to the Express and Star: “At a time when the council have hiked council tax and are looking to make savings in the year, this is not really a priority to be hiking the pay of the chief executive.”Â
Sadly, an increase was voted through but, thanks to the strength of opposition, the new rise was 40 per cent lower than was originally planned.Â
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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How to spend ÂŁ100 million
The colossal waste of money that is HS2 never ceases to amaze us in its creativity when it comes to squandering your cash. This week, we learnt that £100 million has been spent to build a shed to protect bats. No, that’s not a joke.
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John O’Connell, our chief executive, blasted the batty spending when he spoke to the Daily Mail: “Taxpayers will be dumbfounded HS2 has spent so much on something so pointless.”Â
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A budget of broken promises
As mentioned earlier, the fallout from last week’s budget continued to rumble on with lots of accusations that the measures announced break their own manifesto. After Rachel Reeves announced that she was “wrong” to say that taxes didn’t need to go up, William Yarwood, our media campaign manager, joined Russell Quirk on Talk to give the reaction of taxpayers.
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Speaking for the nation, William told listeners: “Reeves and Starmer constantly say that they’re in favour of growth and working people, yet when it comes to what they actually do in government, they slam working people and slam growth by increasing taxes on small businesses and the workers in them.”
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Councils pour water on bonfire night
Guy Fawkes night, bonfire night, fireworks night, whatever you call it, it’s a great British tradition that draws millions of people to local displays and celebrations across the country every year. But this year, dozens of fun-sucking councils have cancelled events.
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Naturally, we always want to see taxpayers’ cash spent wisely but Elliot was spot on when he said: “Taxpayers will be appalled by the penny-pinching, puritanical nature of many local councils. Local authorities are always able to scrabble together cash to fund a fashionable pet project or a boost in top brass salaries, yet many can't even spare a few quid for an important cultural event.” Quite right!
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Why your wine is weaker, sweeter, and worse
In this week’s blog, Joanna Marchong, our investigations campaign manager, has taken a look at an issue that should be close to all of our hearts; just what the health lobby and government busy bodies have done to our wine.
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Health interventions and tax policies have conspired to weaken and sweeten wines, potentially ruining some of our favourite tipples. As Joanna notes: “If the government really wants to help consumers, it should focus on simplifying the tax system rather than piling on ever-more confusing regulations. Wine, like any natural product, varies from year to year. It shouldn’t be punished for that. And consumers shouldn’t be punished either, with higher prices, fewer choices, and sugary, manipulated bottles masquerading as a “healthier” alternative.”
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The TPA joins the country in commemorating those who died fighting for our freedoms.
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Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
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