View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Counting the cost
Nearly four years on from the lifting of covid restrictions in the summer of 2021, and we’re still paying the price of the pandemic. Setting aside the enormous amounts spent on PPE, supporting businesses after they were forced to close, and the billions poured into the health service, and not forgetting social damage of locking people into their homes, we’re still shelling out taxpayers’ cash for covid.
But now it’s in the form of the ongoing covid inquiry.
The latest analysis from the TPA team ([link removed]) has revealed that the inquiry is now set to cost taxpayers ÂŁ227 million, making it the most expensive statutory inquiry in UK history both in terms of total spend and average daily spend, as they burn through a whopping ÂŁ158,269 every single day.
This is the fourth time we’ve produced an estimate of the costs as new figures become available. Each and every time, the number has gone up. When we first looked into things back in December 2023, it stood at £156 million. We took some flak for that figure - including from the inquiry itself. Yet remarkably, the inquiry has already spent more than our initial estimate - over a year before it’s expected to conclude. Spending by the inquiry per day has increased by 50 per cent since the first estimate was produced.
Only the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the Grenfell Tower inquiry come close to the spending of the covid inquiry, but both of these went on for around double the expected length of the covid one.
As John O’Connell put it to reporters ([link removed]) when the research team confirmed the stats ([link removed]) : “Five years on from the pandemic and yet Brits are still waiting on the covid inquiry to wrap up, in what is a damning indictment of the speed and agility of the British state… Ministers should now be considering placing a spending cap on the inquiry, to force focus and protect taxpayers from the ever-growing bill.”
It is absolutely right that we learn all the lessons from the pandemic and how ministers handled it, but it’s not ok to just give the inquiry a blank cheque and drag out the process. Taxpayers expect swift action, not endless prevarication and excuses!
Every week we hold government to account for how they’re spending your money. Can you help us today by clicking here to donate? ([link removed])
Local election results, Reform UK & is Kemi safe?
After last week’s extraordinary election results, podcast host Duncan Barkes is joined by William Yarwood and the deputy editor of ConservativeHome, Henry Hill, for the latest episode of a nation of taxpayers.
They chew over the results and Reform UK's by-election victory in Runcorn and Helsby, chat about Kemi Badenoch's current performance, and how long she might have left as leader of the Conservative Party.
You can listen to all the analysis from this episode of a nation of taxpayers now on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , and YouTube ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
Fiscal rules have failed taxpayers
Who’d have guessed it? Rachel Reeves’ tax rises have had a more damaging effect on the UK economy than anything president Trump has thrown at us and will lead to higher prices and lower wages ([link removed]) . That's the verdict of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research. It’s also something we’ve been warning of since her disastrous Autumn budget ([link removed]) .
Added to this, she’s now expected to miss her own fiscal rules by an extraordinary £60 billion, leaving hard-working Brits to pick up the tab through higher taxes or cuts to spending - we know which of those we’d prefer to see!
But what even are fiscal rules and why do they matter so much? Well, to answer those questions, the TPA’s former chairman and ex-treasury economist Mike Denham has penned an expertly timed blog bringing you everything you need to know, including how it all went wrong. ([link removed])
Conceived by chancellor Gordon Brown back in 1997, fiscal rules were meant to limit public sector debt to prudent and manageable levels. But Brown himself and successive chancellors have abandoned the responsible rules in favour of short term political gain. As Mike makes clear: “Chancellors have in effect learned to game the system. They have learned to deliver budgets that appear to be disciplined by fiscal rules, without actually having to make the tough decisions necessary to restore fiscal sustainability. And meanwhile, the debt mountain keeps growing. At some point of course, the system will blow up. As we’ve consistently argued, a build-up of debt on this scale will sooner or later undermine market confidence, and we’ve already had a few warning shots."
Read Mike’s blockbuster blog in full here ([link removed]) and find out what needs to change to restore some sanity to the public finances.
Taking to the streets
A little over a month ago, TPA research sent shockwaves throughout local government and made headlines across the country. From Lands End to John o’ Groats, thousands of town hall bosses hid behind their sofas (because of course they’re not in the office) as our latest Town Hall Rich List ([link removed]) laid bare the mega pay packets being trousered by those responsible for delivering local services.
A record breaking year that saw 3,906 local bureaucrats romp home with six-figure remuneration packages, our rich list dominated the papers and the airwaves. But while these local bigwigs might have felt safe switching off the radio and putting down the paper, we’re determined to make the voice of taxpayers heard in town halls nationwide.
Which is why next week, the TPA team will be embarking on our Town Hall Rich List Roadshow, visiting high streets across the country kicking off in Canvey Island, part of Castle Point council.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be visiting some of the worst offenders on our rich list and making sure that those who approve these enormous pay deals know just how strongly local ratepayers feel.
Let me know if you’d like to come along (mailto:
[email protected]?subject=Canvey%20Island%20action%20day) , meet the team, and join us in taking the fight for taxpayers to your council.
Taxed to death
Podcasts may be all the rage these days but often you’re stuck with boring conversations with boring people, giving the same tired takes. Fortunately, John isn’t one of them. And when he joined the Peter McCormack Show, the conversation didn’t disappoint ([link removed]) .
[link removed]
Covering everything from the record high tax burden and our national debt to reforming the NHS and breaking up the treasury, this one’s really got it all. Watch John discuss all this and more here. ([link removed]) You won’t want to miss this fascinating conversation!
Potholes: The rulers of the road
In this week’s blog Matthew Bowles of the Institute of Economic Affairs dives into a near-universal bug bear for Brits. Something so basic that councils ought to be dealing with but fail time and time again. You guessed it, potholes. ([link removed])
It often feels like these craters plague every street in Britain and so it’s no surprise then that potholes have become a totem of local authority mismanagement and a daily hazard for millions of motorists.
The costs of damage for motorists caused by potholes was around £1.7 billion last year. Needless expense thanks to the failings of councils. As Matthew writes: “This is a matter of public infrastructure, but also of public trust. Road maintenance is one of the most basic and visible responsibilities of the local government. When roads are left to decay, it sends a clear message: taxpayers are paying more and getting less.”
But all does not need to be lost. Matthew has some sensible solutions for how town halls can get to grips with the pothole pandemic. Click here to find out more. ([link removed])
One more thing
We’ve mentioned many times before just how catastrophic our national debt is ([link removed]) but we also appreciate that it’s not always easy to imagine what £2.8 trillion looks like. If it helps, you could buy 648,261,836,308 Big Macs with our national debt. This isn’t a suggestion. Just adding a little context.
Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
[link removed]
============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2025 The TaxPayers' Alliance, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in to receiving our updates, or we have a legitimate interest to contact you about our work.
TaxPayers' Alliance is a trading name of The TaxPayers' Alliance Limited, a company incorporated in England & Wales under company registration no. 04873888 and whose registered office is at 55 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QL.
You can read our privacy notice here: [link removed]
Our mailing address is:
The TaxPayers' Alliance
55 Tufton Street
London, London SW1P 3QL
United Kingdom
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.
