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Weekly bulletin: Covid, polygamy, and the BBC
| From | The TaxPayers' Alliance <[email protected]> |
| Subject | Weekly bulletin: Covid, polygamy, and the BBC |
| Date | December 7, 2025 11:01 AM |
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͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
[link removed]
Smoke and mirrors in a cloak of chaos
It’s fair to say Rachel Reeves’ second budget has been about as controversial as her first one. The chaos in advance of the budget has continued after with blame games and briefings, the head of the OBR resigning, an emergency press conference from the prime minister and the PM’s chief secretary blowing apart their previous claims of a £22 billion black hole [[link removed]]. While the optics and politics might be bad for ministers, the budget itself is unravelling before our eyes.
While the chancellor and her team have stressed the £21.7 billion of headroom, as Adam Smith explained [[link removed]] in the Telegraph, this figure is “built on sand”. In order to maintain this headroom, Reeves is now committed to cutting departmental spending, increasing energy bills, and reining in welfare spending (not really, just slowing its increase). While we’d certainly cheer on two of those - you can guess which ones - does anyone really think Labour backbenchers would tolerate any of it, beyond the reimposition of green levies on energy bills that is… And that’s before her back-loaded tax rises kick in.
Elsewhere, Reeves delighted in cutting business rates for pubs by 5 pence, but as ever it was just more smoke and mirrors. The loss of rate relief combined with new rateable values mean pubs will see their tax bills sky rocket. Throw in minimum wage increases and bigger national insurance bills and you get 90 per cent of pubs now expecting to hike the price of a pint [[link removed]] while the hospitality sector could lose 100,000 jobs. Not forgetting that taxes already account for 28 per cent of your pint! [[link removed]]
What little credibility this government had left has vanished before our eyes. This rotten chancellor needs to drastically change course before she takes the country down with her.
The BBC's Very Public Breakdown
Podcast host Duncan Barkes and TPA researcher Callum McGoldrick are joined by Rebecca Ryan from Defund The BBC [[link removed]] for this week’s episode of a nation of taxpayers.
Together they discuss the latest revelations that have rocked the BBC to the core and which resulted in the resignation of Director General Tim Davie. They also discuss the clear examples of journalistic bias and what should happen next to the corporation.
Listen now to the latest episode of a nation of taxpayers on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].
As I was going to St Ives…
When the TPA team heard about this next story, we were quite literally shocked into silence. That is, before we were overtaken by anger and incredulity. You see, it turns out that British taxpayers are shelling out for benefits for people in polygamous marriages. Yep, you read that right.
While the DWP haven’t released figures on how many people currently qualify, it is patently absurd for hard-working Brits to see their taxes supporting what is an illegal practice in the UK.
Speaking to the Express about it, I called it out for what it is [[link removed]]: “That the British state is willing to make welfare payments to those in polygamous marriages is simply astounding. Last week, Rachel Reeves demanded taxpayers hand over more of their cash to fund the benefits bonanza she called a Budget. Little did they know some of it is going into the pockets of foreign-born nationals with multiple wives.”
[link removed]
When Talk got in touch, I was more than happy to sit down in front of the camera [[link removed]] and make it clear to Alex Phillips just how absurd this situation is: “It is an affront to British law. We have these rules in place, we say ‘you cannot do this, it is illegal in this country’ and yet we are willing to allow it and subsidise it with taxpayers’ money.”
Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t paying benefits to non-British citizens. At an absolute minimum, we should bar anyone with multiple wives (or husbands) from receiving any kind of handout!
Even more Covid costs
Our team have been sounding the alarm over the mounting costs of the covid inquiry for more than a year and a half and, despite our estimates being dismissed as “hysterical” by the inquiry, we’ve been proved right [[link removed]] and, if anything, were underestimating.
While we’ve been focussed on the spending of the inquiry itself, it turns out ministers have been racking up their own costs and have splashed out a whopping £100 million on legal advice and staff! [[link removed]]
John O’Connell was spot on when he spoke to the BBC giving the new revelations both barrels: “It's an absolute disgrace that ministers have burnt through an extra £100m on top of what the inquiry itself has already spent. These new figures show the total cost to taxpayers will be far higher than previously feared. Ministers must urgently get a grip on the spiralling costs of the Covid Inquiry and commit to delivering answers swiftly and efficiently.”
[link removed]
Not letting things rest there, Darwin Friend popped up on Petrie Hosken’s show, diving into the numbers and leaving listeners in no doubt about how taxpayers are being taken for a ride [[link removed]]: “We’re not learning anything from this. All that seems to be happening is taxpayers’ money being spent keeping lawyers in well paying jobs.”
Calorie control
Despite the sugar tax having completely failed to bring down obesity rates, ministers are ploughing on with plans to expand it and push up the price of the little luxuries people enjoy.
Shimeon Lee joined the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live to highlight just how ineffective this measure has been [[link removed]] and why even more taxes are not the answer to Britain’s obesity problems.
[link removed]
Shimeon explained to viewers across the country: “We’ve had this tax for seven years now and obesity hasn’t gone down, in fact it’s gone up. What has gone down is revenue raised from this tax and I think it's far more likely that this expansion of the tax is motivated by the desire to raise revenue on the part of the chancellor.”
Trying to police people’s diets, restricting their choices, and hitting those on lower incomes particularly hard is not just ineffective, it’s simply wrong.
What Corbyn gets right (and wrong) about the OBR
Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader and now interim leader of ‘Your Party’ was back in the news this week and took a pop at the OBR, branding it “undemocratic” and saying he would “cut its wings off”. While there are certainly legitimate frustrations with the OBR, Jonathan Eida uses this week’s blog [[link removed]] to remind us of the best way to neutralise their influence - stop borrowing money!
As Jonathan writes: “A budget surplus removes the perpetual drama of short-term headroom calculations. When the public finances are genuinely sustainable, the OBR becomes what it was always meant to be: a neutral assessor, not a political earthquake machine.” While Corbyn may bemoan the OBR for curtailing the ability of governments to simply turn on the spending taps with no regard for economic realities, Jonathan correctly notes: “The OBR has real flaws. It deserves reform especially regarding the fiscal rules. But the critics who shout loudest for its abolition are the ones who inadvertently remind us why it was implemented in the first place. The correct answer is to stop flying into fiscal storms in the first place.” Have a read of Jonathan’s blog in full here [[link removed]].
War on Waste
Despite local authority finances being in a total mess, London councils seem to have money to burn. A new investigation from Callum has revealed councils in the capital found more than £73,000 for Pride events and merchandise. [[link removed]]
From events like ‘Pride Punx Queer Power Party’ and ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’ to flags and pronoun badges, no expense was spared.
It’s completely unacceptable for councils to spend so frivolously while every year pushing through tax rises and cutting frontline services!
The TaxPayers' Alliance © 2025 – Unsubscribe [[link removed]]
[link removed]
Smoke and mirrors in a cloak of chaos
It’s fair to say Rachel Reeves’ second budget has been about as controversial as her first one. The chaos in advance of the budget has continued after with blame games and briefings, the head of the OBR resigning, an emergency press conference from the prime minister and the PM’s chief secretary blowing apart their previous claims of a £22 billion black hole [[link removed]]. While the optics and politics might be bad for ministers, the budget itself is unravelling before our eyes.
While the chancellor and her team have stressed the £21.7 billion of headroom, as Adam Smith explained [[link removed]] in the Telegraph, this figure is “built on sand”. In order to maintain this headroom, Reeves is now committed to cutting departmental spending, increasing energy bills, and reining in welfare spending (not really, just slowing its increase). While we’d certainly cheer on two of those - you can guess which ones - does anyone really think Labour backbenchers would tolerate any of it, beyond the reimposition of green levies on energy bills that is… And that’s before her back-loaded tax rises kick in.
Elsewhere, Reeves delighted in cutting business rates for pubs by 5 pence, but as ever it was just more smoke and mirrors. The loss of rate relief combined with new rateable values mean pubs will see their tax bills sky rocket. Throw in minimum wage increases and bigger national insurance bills and you get 90 per cent of pubs now expecting to hike the price of a pint [[link removed]] while the hospitality sector could lose 100,000 jobs. Not forgetting that taxes already account for 28 per cent of your pint! [[link removed]]
What little credibility this government had left has vanished before our eyes. This rotten chancellor needs to drastically change course before she takes the country down with her.
The BBC's Very Public Breakdown
Podcast host Duncan Barkes and TPA researcher Callum McGoldrick are joined by Rebecca Ryan from Defund The BBC [[link removed]] for this week’s episode of a nation of taxpayers.
Together they discuss the latest revelations that have rocked the BBC to the core and which resulted in the resignation of Director General Tim Davie. They also discuss the clear examples of journalistic bias and what should happen next to the corporation.
Listen now to the latest episode of a nation of taxpayers on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].
As I was going to St Ives…
When the TPA team heard about this next story, we were quite literally shocked into silence. That is, before we were overtaken by anger and incredulity. You see, it turns out that British taxpayers are shelling out for benefits for people in polygamous marriages. Yep, you read that right.
While the DWP haven’t released figures on how many people currently qualify, it is patently absurd for hard-working Brits to see their taxes supporting what is an illegal practice in the UK.
Speaking to the Express about it, I called it out for what it is [[link removed]]: “That the British state is willing to make welfare payments to those in polygamous marriages is simply astounding. Last week, Rachel Reeves demanded taxpayers hand over more of their cash to fund the benefits bonanza she called a Budget. Little did they know some of it is going into the pockets of foreign-born nationals with multiple wives.”
[link removed]
When Talk got in touch, I was more than happy to sit down in front of the camera [[link removed]] and make it clear to Alex Phillips just how absurd this situation is: “It is an affront to British law. We have these rules in place, we say ‘you cannot do this, it is illegal in this country’ and yet we are willing to allow it and subsidise it with taxpayers’ money.”
Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem if we weren’t paying benefits to non-British citizens. At an absolute minimum, we should bar anyone with multiple wives (or husbands) from receiving any kind of handout!
Even more Covid costs
Our team have been sounding the alarm over the mounting costs of the covid inquiry for more than a year and a half and, despite our estimates being dismissed as “hysterical” by the inquiry, we’ve been proved right [[link removed]] and, if anything, were underestimating.
While we’ve been focussed on the spending of the inquiry itself, it turns out ministers have been racking up their own costs and have splashed out a whopping £100 million on legal advice and staff! [[link removed]]
John O’Connell was spot on when he spoke to the BBC giving the new revelations both barrels: “It's an absolute disgrace that ministers have burnt through an extra £100m on top of what the inquiry itself has already spent. These new figures show the total cost to taxpayers will be far higher than previously feared. Ministers must urgently get a grip on the spiralling costs of the Covid Inquiry and commit to delivering answers swiftly and efficiently.”
[link removed]
Not letting things rest there, Darwin Friend popped up on Petrie Hosken’s show, diving into the numbers and leaving listeners in no doubt about how taxpayers are being taken for a ride [[link removed]]: “We’re not learning anything from this. All that seems to be happening is taxpayers’ money being spent keeping lawyers in well paying jobs.”
Calorie control
Despite the sugar tax having completely failed to bring down obesity rates, ministers are ploughing on with plans to expand it and push up the price of the little luxuries people enjoy.
Shimeon Lee joined the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live to highlight just how ineffective this measure has been [[link removed]] and why even more taxes are not the answer to Britain’s obesity problems.
[link removed]
Shimeon explained to viewers across the country: “We’ve had this tax for seven years now and obesity hasn’t gone down, in fact it’s gone up. What has gone down is revenue raised from this tax and I think it's far more likely that this expansion of the tax is motivated by the desire to raise revenue on the part of the chancellor.”
Trying to police people’s diets, restricting their choices, and hitting those on lower incomes particularly hard is not just ineffective, it’s simply wrong.
What Corbyn gets right (and wrong) about the OBR
Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour leader and now interim leader of ‘Your Party’ was back in the news this week and took a pop at the OBR, branding it “undemocratic” and saying he would “cut its wings off”. While there are certainly legitimate frustrations with the OBR, Jonathan Eida uses this week’s blog [[link removed]] to remind us of the best way to neutralise their influence - stop borrowing money!
As Jonathan writes: “A budget surplus removes the perpetual drama of short-term headroom calculations. When the public finances are genuinely sustainable, the OBR becomes what it was always meant to be: a neutral assessor, not a political earthquake machine.” While Corbyn may bemoan the OBR for curtailing the ability of governments to simply turn on the spending taps with no regard for economic realities, Jonathan correctly notes: “The OBR has real flaws. It deserves reform especially regarding the fiscal rules. But the critics who shout loudest for its abolition are the ones who inadvertently remind us why it was implemented in the first place. The correct answer is to stop flying into fiscal storms in the first place.” Have a read of Jonathan’s blog in full here [[link removed]].
War on Waste
Despite local authority finances being in a total mess, London councils seem to have money to burn. A new investigation from Callum has revealed councils in the capital found more than £73,000 for Pride events and merchandise. [[link removed]]
From events like ‘Pride Punx Queer Power Party’ and ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’ to flags and pronoun badges, no expense was spared.
It’s completely unacceptable for councils to spend so frivolously while every year pushing through tax rises and cutting frontline services!
The TaxPayers' Alliance © 2025 – Unsubscribe [[link removed]]
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