Three weeks on from the chancellorās disastrous budget, and the UKās farmers descended on Whitehall to protest Rachel Reevesā vicious and vindictive family farm tax.Ā
Itās difficult to overstate the level of anger of those who gathered in central London. Quite frankly, itās hard to disagree with them. The government's changes to agricultural property relief risks seeing thousands of family farms ruined as those left behind struggle to pay enormous tax bills. With so much of their wealth tied up in assets like harvesters, tractors, and fields, inheritance tax bills will cripple many families that, while feeding us, are just about scratching a living.
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Joanna Marchong, our investigations campaign manager, headed on down Whitehall to talk to those who had taken to the streets. Joanna spoke to dozens of people from all over the country, and their message to ministers was clear: āDonāt do it!ā Check out Joannaās video from the protest here.Ā
As if to add insult to injury, in revelations that splashed the front page of the Daily Express, Joanna exposed the absurd situation we find ourselves in of taxes being hiked on UK farmers, whilst hundreds of millions of pounds are being dished out to farmers overseas through the foreign aid budget! From growing tea in Rwanda to low carbon farming in Brazil, itās so ridiculous you couldnāt make it up. Joanna was absolutely spot on when she said: āBritish farmers will be outraged to hear that foreign farmers are getting more support from the government than they areā¦ Reeves should cut funding to farms abroad and focus on supporting British farmers who directly contribute to their communities and our countyās food security.ā Our head of campaigns, Elliot Keck, was on GB News last night to discuss the story.
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Joanna wasnāt the only one from TPA towers to pop along to the protest. Duncan Barkes, host of our podcast a nation of taxpayers was on the scene to record the latest episode live. Joined by Elliot, the first episode of our podcast recorded outside of the studio really cuts to the heart of the anger of the farmers and is not to be missed. Give it a listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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Whilst a lot of attention has understandably been focussed on the impact on farmers, we shouldnāt forget that they werenāt the only targets of Rachel Reevesā inheritance tax grab. People in the private sector now face seeing their pensions included as part of their estate. Family businesses could be forced to sell up following changes to business property relief. The list goes on. Thatās why we at the TPA are absolutely clear, itās time to bury the death tax once and for all!
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In the latest update to our research looking at the cost of the covid inquiry, our team revealed that, despite already being the most expensive public inquiry since the Inquiries Act came into force in 2005, itās now projected to cost almost Ā£208 million!Ā
John blasted the revelations telling reporters: āThe cost of the Covid inquiry has spiralled even further out of control, with taxpayers left footing an ever-growing bill.ā Itās fair to say our findings absolutely dominated the media with the news being covered by the Daily Mail, Telegraph, GB News, the Times, Sun, and literally hundreds of local outlets. It's fair to say that the inquiry were fuming that they were put under the spotlight by our research team. Elliot has written a helpful thread explaining why if anything our figures are likely to be an underestimate.
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Leading the team to protest the absurd Ā£144,939 per day price tag, Elliot further explained: āWhilst itās undoubtedly true that there are lessons to be learnt about the way the UK handled the pandemic, this inquiry is going on for too long and is costing taxpayers too much money.ā
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Debt clock update
With all the understandable uproar around Rachel Reevesā tax rises, one of the consequences of her budget that hasnāt had the attention it deserves is the impact on the national finances, specifically our national debt. Enter the TPA egg heads. In light of her spending spree, the national debt is now set to rocket and, according to our debt clock, is increasing by a staggering Ā£6,082 per second!
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Elliot used an op-ed in CapX to highlight just how out of control the situation is: āAs a result, in todayās prices the interest on the debt has increased from Ā£22.3bn in 1955-56 to Ā£102.2bn in 2023-24, a whopping 358% increase. Given the damage that will be done by the Ā£40bn worth of tax rises, itās absolutely right that they are the focus for the moment. But until we start talking seriously about how to tackle the national debt, Britainās financial future looks to be in some danger.ā
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Our wasteful NHS
Iām sure itāll come as no surprise to most of you reading this that the NHS is a long way from the āenvy of the worldā weāre told itās meant to be. Despite huge levels of spending, I expect we all know what itās like sitting for hours in A&E or waiting on hold with the GP only to be told itāll be three weeks before an appointment. So perhaps we shouldnāt be surprised to learn that the health service is still squandering millions of pounds on woke projects and non-jobs.
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Speaking to the Sun on Sunday, Joanna had some sound words of advice for health secretary, Wes Streeting: āThe Health Secretary should be holding back additional funds until NHS bosses prove they can spend it wisely.ā Quite right!
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Khanās costly rebrand
When heās not waging war on motorists or splashing the cash on 1,100 staff getting over Ā£100k, the mayor of London seems intent on finding new and creative ways to squander taxpayersā cash. His latest wheeze has been to shell out Ā£6.3 million rebranding overground lines.
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Our media campaign manager, William Yarwood, pulled no punches when he told GB News: āLondoners will be furious that their hard-earned cash is being squandered on another of Sadiq Khan's woke vanity projects. Commuters in the capital just want their trains to be clean and run on time rather than being subjected to virtue-signalling nonsense.ā
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How do you solve the local government sickness crisis?
This weekās blog is guest written by Cllr David Taylor from Havering who takes a look at the dramatic effects sickness is having on local councils. With over 50 per cent of staff at Havering taking sick leave and 27 per cent of the absence being due to stress, depression, fatigue, anxiety or mental health, itās not a pretty picture. But itās also not a picture unique to Havering.Ā
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As Cllr Taylor observes: āOur public sector workers are sick, and at a higher rate than those in the private sector. This sickness is costing the taxpayer tens of millions in London, and likely tens of millions more across the countryā¦ Whoever is running HR in the public sector needs to look to the private sector for inspiration. We canāt afford for them not to.ā
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Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
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