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A personal recession
If you checked the news on Thursday, you’ll no doubt have seen the usual talking heads congratulating the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, on the UK’s economic performance. While growth from July to September flatlined, in a birthday gift to Reeves, it shot up to 0.1 per cent from October to December. If you’re detecting a hint of sarcasm there, you’d be right.

Of course, 0.1 per cent economic growth can only be described as anaemic at best. Others might choose to say ‘sluggish’ or ‘barely there’. But I don’t want to labour the point.
Before anyone gets ahead of themselves though, the productive part of the economy, the private sector, didn’t share in any of this growth. It was purely driven by greater government spending ([link removed]) .

What does all this mean for the average Brit? Well, when the latest stats were released, the TPA eggheads were on hand to crunch the numbers. As you might have guessed, hard-working taxpayers are now experiencing what we call a personal recession ([link removed]) , if not a national one. While on paper the overall pie may have grown, your share of it, in both percentage and cash terms, has shrunk.

There has now been two consecutive quarters of negative GDP per capita growth ([link removed]) meaning living standards are in decline ([link removed]) . GDP per capita shrunk by 0.3 per cent in July to September and then by a further 0.1 per cent in October to December. John O’Connell, our chief executive, couldn’t have been clearer when he explained to journalists ([link removed]) what taxpayers have long known: “The brutal reality for British taxpayers is that despite headline figures showing marginal overall growth, they are experiencing their own personal recession… During periods of personal recession there should be a significant policy response including freezes on public sector pay, limits on benefit increases and
spending reviews for government departments.”
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With perfect timing, Elliot Keck, our head of campaigns, was in the BBC Politics Live studio. When the economy came up, he didn’t hesitate to make it clear to audiences across the country why these latest figures are nothing to celebrate ([link removed]) : “It’s frankly embarrassing… Rachel Reeves has taken a sledgehammer to the private sector and it’s going to be catastrophic!”

It’s not hard to understand how we ended up in this situation. The chancellor’s tax-rising, farm-killing, job-destroying, borrowing-raising budget has stamped out even the meagre expansion expected under the Tories. But there’s still time to change course. The chancellor could use the spring statement to reverse her damaging tax rises, cut bureaucracy and excessive spending, unleash Britain’s entrepreneurial spirit, and put a stop to this unrelenting decline. Only time will tell if she has the courage - and humility - to do what the country so desperately needs.

You can help the TPA continue producing agenda-setting research by clicking here to donate ([link removed])
A nation of taxpayers
Podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by Daniel Lilley, Senior Researcher at Civitas and Max Marlow, Director of Research and Education at the Adam Smith Institute for this week’s episode of a nation of taxpayers.
They discuss the new Civitas research paper entitled 'Balancing taxes and benefits: Starting the public conversation on net recipience'. Max also talks about the ASI's Millionaire Tracker that reveals a growing number of millionaires are leaving the country. They also ask why in the UK there appears to be a hatred of those who have become wealthy and successful.

Give the latest episode of a nation of taxpayers a listen on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , and YouTube ([link removed]) .
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
MPs should have to earn pay rises

While the public may be experiencing a personal recession, at least one group looks like they’ll be spared some of the pain. News came through this week that MPs will receive an above-inflation pay rise, bringing their basic salary to a whopping £93,904.
William Yarwood, the TPA’s media campaign manager, was so mad when he heard, he immediately put pen to paper ([link removed]) and delivered an op-ed for the Critic. William had some choice words about the performance of today’s MPs and had a recommendation of how their pay should be determined going forward: “we need to link the pay of MPs to the country’s economic performance, crucially measured by GDP per capita, rather than overall GDP… Maybe then, just maybe, our politicians might realise that challenging one another to FIFA matches or calling for more women footballers on birthday cards isn’t what they’re elected to do.”
Britain needs its own DOGE

As Elon Musk continues to expose vast amounts of waste in the US, John took some time this week to make the case for DOGE here in the UK. We’ve long been waging our War on Waste ([link removed]) and we continue to expose taxpayers’ cash being squandered week in week out.
Writing for LBC, John had plenty of ideas for making savings ([link removed]) : “The TaxPayers’ Alliance has fought for taxpayers for two decades, and we know exactly where the fat needs trimming: workshy civil servants, wasteful government departments, and failing MPs.”
The bullying BBC

As more and more households turn their backs on the archaic licence fee, the BBC isn’t going down without a fight. A mega 41 million letters ([link removed]) were sent to households between 2023 and 2024, demanding people shell out for the Beeb.
Joanna Marchong, our investigations campaign manager, was spot on ([link removed]) when she told the Telegraph: “Taxpayers are sick of being asked to cough up for the archaic TV tax. As their revenues plummet and more and more tune out, they’re showing their desperation by sending out this many letters and even suggesting forcing Netflix users to pay the licence fee.”
Blog of the week
War on Waste: October - December 2024

In this week’s blog, Joanna brings us the latest news from the front of our War on Waste. From the climate impact of Star Wars to equality, diversity, and inclusion jobs in the police, there’s still plenty of fat left to trim ([link removed]) .
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While ridiculous spending continues, as Joanna writes, the TPA won’t be backing down: “These examples make one thing clear: public bodies remain addicted to waste. The TaxPayers' Alliance will continue to expose these failures and hold decision-makers to account.”

Click to read more ([link removed])
War on Waste
When a council’s finances are so out of control that they have to effectively declare bankruptcy three times, you might think they’d make sure that they keep their spending to core services. Well, Croydon council ([link removed]) somehow managed to rack up a bill of over £3,000 on tea, biscuits and other refreshments in 2024.

Send me your examples of wasteful public sector spending (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Wasteful%20spending)

Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager

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