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Will we see you there?
Parliament returns from its summer recess next week and there’s certainly a lot for our politicians to be getting to grips with. From the ongoing small boat crisis and migrant hotels, to the deteriorating state of the public finances and the chancellor’s plans to plug her £40 billion black hole, the problems facing our country continue to mount.
MPs may be coming back to London for a brief stint before the conference recess in a couple of weeks time, but the TPA team will be heading to Birmingham for the weekend and pitching up our stall at the Reform UK conference.
Now topping every poll (and often by a hearty margin), we’ll be asking the questions that really matter of the party hoping to form the next government. What would the UK economy look like under Reform? Will they get spending under control, tackle the national debt, and bring down the record tax burden? Or will their efforts be thwarted leaving taxpayers across the country disappointed as they have been so many times before?
To address these questions and more, we’ll be hosting a panel at the conference on Friday evening, with Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice, party board member Gawain Towler, political analyst James Frayne, and the TPA’s own John O’Connell and Duncan Barkes. If you’ll be at the conference, come along! On top of the panel, our team will be manning a stall within the exhibition hall and we’d love you to pop by and say hello if you’re attending.
Elsewhere, you’ll find our very own Joanna Marchong joining a panel hosted by Forest titled Politics and Prohibition: The fight for choice. Well worth dropping in on this one if you can.
The Story Of The First Brexiteer
Podcast host Duncan Barkes and Callum McGoldrick are joined by Dr Tim Aker to talk about his book 'The First Brexiteer - The Diaries Of Sir Neil Marten 1970-1979' for this week’s episode of a nation of taxpayers.
Sir Neil was a Conservative MP and a leading opponent of the European Economic Community and served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher. You can pick up a copy of Tim’s book here ([link removed]) .
Catch the latest episode a nation of taxpayers on Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , and YouTube ([link removed]) .
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Bullets before bonuses
We’ve grown depressingly accepting of government procurement projects running over time and over budget. Any time a big “investment” or piece of infrastructure spending is announced, we brace ourselves for delays and ballooning costs. ([link removed]) From the lower Thames crossing and HS2 to NHS digitalisation and the renovation of parliament, the record of successive governments across departments is simply atrocious. And the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is no exception.
AJAX fighting vehicles are already 8 years overdue and not expected until the end of the decade. The Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers faced a range of technical issues after being launched. The list goes on. Despite these failings, bosses at Defence and Equipment Support, an agency of the MoD, have been handed over ÂŁ1 million of bonuses in the last three years ([link removed]) .
John gave these ridiculous rewards for failure ([link removed]) both barrels when he told Telegraph readers: “From unusable tanks to aircraft carriers with technical faults, Defence Equipment and Support has presided over blunder after blunder – yet bosses have still cashed in on bonuses worth over a million pounds. This wasteful quango culture has to end. If the MoD is serious about fixing defence procurement, it must start by scrapping rewards for incompetence.” Spot on!
How to make the housing crisis worse
The chancellor’s woes have only worsened over the summer with the cost of borrowing soaring ([link removed]) and TPA research ([link removed]) showing this government increased the national debt by £186 billion in its first year. Rachel Reeves now faces a £40 billion black hole in her fiscal plans and is touting increasingly wild ideas for raising that cash (because of course she’s not thinking about cutting spending).
One option being floated is to apply national insurance to rental income ([link removed]) . Bearing in mind the troubles facing the housing market and particularly the enormous rents people are already struggling to pay, Reeves’ bright idea is to apply additional taxes to landlords that would inevitably be passed on to tenants.
This government’s war on landlords through their renters rights’ bill already threatens to see homes taken off the market, driving up rents through reduced supply and this latest proposal could add £1,000 more! ([link removed])
Rather than face up to the hard decisions of getting a grip on spending, our increasingly desperate chancellor is reaching for more and more taxes to appease the Labour backbenches. The net result will see us all picking up the tab for their profligacy.
Testing our patience
I’m fairly confident that nobody reading this likes seeing the tax taken from their pay slip each month or the bill they get when they submit their self-assessments. And we’ve probably all had a bit of a rant about it down the local. Well, according to a new TPA investigation from Joanna, it looks like we’re also putting in more complaints to HMRC ([link removed]) .
Complaints around delays from HMRC’s customer service teams have rocketed ([link removed]) from 21,932 in 2021-22 to 40,009 in 2024-25. I think Joanna spoke for us all when she told the Times: “Taxpayers are contributing record amounts to the public purse, yet the quality of service from HMRC is deteriorating. The rise in complaints reflects growing frustration with delays, poor communication and a lack of responsiveness. Ministers should ensure that HMRC delivers value for money by providing the efficient, high-quality service that taxpayers have every right to expect.” Hear, hear!
A warning from Westminster
In this week’s blog ([link removed]) , Jonathan Eida looks ahead to some of the key bills and measures to watch as parliament returns and what they might mean for taxpayers.
From the budget to the employment rights bill, Jonathan gives us his take and, I’m sorry to say, it’s not good news. Jonathan warns: “At a moment when growth is fragile and households are stretched, Westminster looks set to tighten the tourniquet: higher costs for employers, new and increased taxes, and schemes that siphon cash from pay packets and nest eggs alike. If this programme proceeds as planned the damage will be felt in both the short and long term.”
Have a read of Jonathan’s blog in full here ([link removed])
War on Waste
Where might you be able to enjoy seminars on “Pan Africanism”, “Lesbian Identity, Love, and Community” and “men’s menopause awareness”? The Department for Education of course!
Yep, civil servants in the department responsible for children’s services and education thought the working day was the right time and place for these nonsense sessions ([link removed]) .
It’s high time ministers put a stop to these woke events once and for all!
Benjamin Elks
Grassroots Development Manager
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