On Tuesday we welcomed the announcement by Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, that the true cost of High Speed 2 (HS2) will be £81-88 billion in 2019 prices. Previous governments have maintained that HS2 would only cost £55.6 billion despite knowing the project was likely to exceed this. Back in February 2017 TPA research showed that the cost of HS2 could be as high as £90 billion.

The problems facing the project are an open secret, with massive overruns and official estimates drifting ever upwards. Overpaid middle management have been unable to keep costs under control, and a bloated PR budget has not helped HS2 Ltd cover their tracks.

The government review into HS2 must now ask difficult questions about whether to proceed with the project or not.

Our policy analyst Jeremy Hutton gave his thoughts on the new costings to ITV Central News, saying that the government should not throw more money after bad money. Click here to watch a clip.

What are your thoughts on the latest HS2 revelations?

On Wednesday Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid delivered his Spending Review and promised to "turn the page on austerity". His speech to the House of Commons was clearly written in a manner of a party getting ready for an election. More money for the police, prisons and schools will no doubt prove popular with taxpayers who want a boost for frontline services.

The term "austerity" is banded about so much these days that no one stops to ask how severe previous spending cuts were. In fact our own research shows that between 2009/10 and 2016/17 spending only fell by 0.2 per cent in real terms.

Spraying taxpayers' money across every part of Whitehall signals a ceasefire in the all-important war on waste. The government should eradicate waste and inefficiencies in departments, quangos and councils. Ministers could have taken this opportunity to cut the cost of government by abolishing pointless quangos and merging departments. This way more money would be freed up to deliver world class public services and give room for long overdue tax cuts.

Do let me know your thoughts on the Spending Review

On Saturday morning my colleague Jeremy Hutton and I joined forces with Croydon Constitutionalists to expose local council waste. Many people we spoke to are absolutely fed up of council bosses being paid six-figure salaries yet in return residents receive poor quality services.

Lose the Levy!

Next Friday we will be in Bristol to campaign against the possible introduction of a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL). Such a levy would see a tax on every staff car parking space on private business premises. A WPL has already been introduced in Nottingham designed to reduce the amount of traffic entering the city. 

Data suggests that the scheme has had minimal impact on reducing traffic and is more than likely designed to increase revenue for the council. We will be speaking to businesses across Bristol on Friday 13th September about why this tax is such a bad idea. Please get in touch if you would like to support our campaign to stop this levy being introduced.

Late night politics

Our chief executive John O'Connell forfeited going to bed at a sensible hour on Wednesday evening, as he was a guest on Nick de Bois' talkRadio show from 10pm to 1am to discuss the latest goings on in British politics. Whilst Brexit featured heavily there was some excellent discussion about public spending and how government departments could spend our money better. Click here to listen to a clip.

VAT debacle

A specialist tax tribunal has decided that Botox is not a medical procedure (despite have medical uses) and is subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) at 20 per cent. I was asked by BBC Radio Essex to give my thoughts on the ruling and I explained that VAT is a vastly complicated tax which with many absurdities.

VAT is a small part of a near 26,000 page tax system, making it particularly difficult for smaller businesses not to fall foul of HMRC. Ultimately stifling growth and innovation. I argued that one way to simplify VAT would be to apply it to all goods but at a much lower rate, say 5 per cent. Click here to listen to an excerpt from the interview.

Read our briefing paper on Value Added Tax. How would you reform VAT?

Government meddling continues to do harm to Britain’s high streets

Long time TPA supporter and local coordinator Charles Amos wrote a blog examining how poor government policy is harming high streets across the country. Charles argues that business rates are flawed and do not take into account the profitability of a company.

Worse still licensing and regulations do little to help the high street flourish as seen in West Sussex:

"A worrying example of the increasing burden of licensing costs can be seen in West Sussex County Council’s recent decision to increase the cost of a licence for putting tables and chairs out on the pavement from £200 to £520. Just like business rates, this fee is fixed; meaning that to put ten tables out on the public pavement would cost the same as just putting one table out. Yet again, this is hitting smaller businesses the hardest. This licence fee increase will likely reduce the number of seats put out on the pavements (some businesses may ignore the fee, thus risking a fine and potentially prosecution). The upshot is the likelihood of less al fresco dining, making the high street less attractive. Indeed I have already nicknamed it the “Al Fresco Fee”. This is the opposite of the approach that the high street needs." Read more...

If you would like to write a guest blog do let me know.

NHS saves £300 million

This section of the bulletin is usually laden with doom and gloom about bureaucrats wasting our money, but not this week! I am pleased to report that the NHS claims to have made savings for taxpayers to the tune of £294 million. Doctors have been told to stop prescribing expensive branded medications and instead opt for generic drugs or 'biosimilars'. 

This is very welcome and a big step in the right direction. Commenting on the news our political director James Roberts said:

"This news will be tonic to taxpayers who worry that the NHS is forever wasting money. NHS treatments don't come cheap, so it's refreshing to hear the health service is on course to hit savings targets on tablets. All eyes will be on health chiefs to meet their 2021 targets for savings on pills, so they can prove that they are keeping to the course and cutting down on unnecessary waste."

Do you know of other savings in the public sector?

Harry Fone Grassroots Campaign Manager

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