In this week of disruptive and unnecessary strikes, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has unapologetically been on the side of hard-working taxpayers.
Last Sunday, we called out the millions in subsidies which have been handed to trade unions. Our explosive research on trade union facility time - reported in The Sun and elsewhere - delved into official figures and found that (wait for it…) 24,000 public sector workers were moonlighting as trade union reps, at a cost of ÂŁ98 million to the taxpayer. Facility time is paid time-off taken by trade union officials to carry out union duties. We found that over 1,000 public sector workers spent all of their time on union duties.Â
|
|
Politicians were horrified. Cabinet Office minister Jacob Rees-Mogg MP admitted that ongoing taxpayer support for unions is “difficult to understand”, and Conservative MPs are now writing to the government calling for the funding to be cut.Â
Without hesitation, we took our campaign directly to the streets with a public petition. As the strikes began, we gave the unions a taste of their own medicine - and picketed the RMT headquarters!Â
|
|
|
Furious union officials emerged to shout abuse and attempt to tear down our banners, all in the view of the watching TV cameras who were there to interview us.Â
|
|
|
And we didn’t stop there. On the morning of the strikes, we visited train stations in London to show the world the chaos the strike action was causing for struggling commuters.Â
|
|
|
Our staff have been out endlessly on the airwaves making this case. Policy analyst Darwin Friend appeared on the relaunched Channel 5 news for head-to-head debate with the unions, while research director Duncan Simpson dominated radio - on Times Radio and LBC among others - slamming the unions and their taxpayer subsidies.Â
|
|
It wasn’t just the rail unions either. With the teaching unions threatening strike ballots on Wednesday, we revealed the £1.4 million mega pay enjoyed by education union bosses. Responding to our research in the Daily Express, one Tory MP and former teacher called them an “embarrassment to the profession” and demanded they resign.
In a week where taxpayers have seen their lives made a misery by selfish union bosses, we were proud to fight back. Trade union facility time was first uncovered by us in 2010 - as our intern Emily Preston explained in a piece on the 1828 website - and is still far too generous to militant unions. And we will continue campaigning to do something about it.
Â
|
|
|
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
|
|
|
Time to sell council offices?
An investigation by The Times found that more than 90 per cent of council staff are still working from home in some local authorities.
This rightly raised concerns about whether taxpayers are getting bang for their buck, as they continue to foot the bill for empty desks in deserted town halls.
|
|
|
Our chief executive John O’Connell was bang on the money, telling journalists: “Residents fed up with colossal council tax bills and bumper pay rises for staff will no doubt be disappointed to find out they’re paying a small fortune to fund these barren buildings. If flexible working is to stay, council officials should be moved out and the savings passed on to hard-pressed residents.”
|
|
Inflation hits a 40-year high
As we’ve said before, inflation acts as a stealth tax, eroding people’s incomes and dragging them into higher tax bands.Â
This week inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent. It should be a wake-up call for the government to take serious steps to ease the cost of living crisis. Darwin appeared on LBC News to give his take on what the government can and should be doing.
|
|
|
Darwin called on the government to “be bold, implement meaningful tax cuts and give much-needed respite to private and public sector workers alike.” Click here to listen.
|
|
Coventry council’s Russian misadventures
Our previous investigation into Coventry Council’s misadventures with the Russian city of Volgograd caused a bit of a stir this week. Following The Spectator’s report into the £12,000 spent on council visits there, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Peter Male, kicked off at a full meeting of the council, calling the news “an embarrassment to us all.”
|
|
|
Read all about the fallout from our scoop in the Coventry Telegraph.
|
|
Sick leave crisis at the Ministry of Defence
Earlier this month, the Express revealed our research into civil servants taking time off sick without a doctor’s note. As if the data wasn’t bad enough already, the Ministry of Defence then released even more shocking data.
An astonishing 100,000 days (yep, you read that right!) were lost by employees being off in excess of 7 days without a sick note.
|
|
|
As John O’Connell told the Express: "Taxpayers are fed up of defence officials going AWOL. If bureaucrats aren't just pulling a sickie, they should have a note to explain why they’re off." Hear, hear!Â
|
|
Why tax cuts may not feed the inflationary beast
We’re regularly asked whether tax cuts will simply fuel inflation. You’ve heard the arguments: if people have more money in their pockets, they will have more money to spend. Increased demand, without a corresponding increase in supply, the argument goes, will simply add fuel to the inflationary fire. Right?Â
Elliot Keck addressed these concerns head on in a piece for CapX.
|
|
|
Elliot points out that asking taxpayers to scrimp and save “puts the onus to cut down on spending and bring down inflation on taxpayers, not on a bloated state bureaucracy doing too little with too much. In other words, it suggests the public should get their finances under control, not the Government.”
|
|
Why the government must keep a lid on public sector pay rises
Earlier this week, the ONS released new stats that showed a substantial increase in borrowing and a sharp increase in public sector net debt - which currently stands at £2.4 trillion. That’s an increase of £170.1 billion compared with May 2021!
|
|
In the wake of disruption from the unions in disputes over pay in the public sector, Emily Preston took to the TPA blog to make the case that “in the face of record-high government borrowing, it is unreasonable for public sector wages to shoot up.” Well said!
Â
You can read the blog piece here.
|
|
More diversity managers hired!
We’ve long fought against non-jobs in the public sector. Clearly, HMRC didn’t get the memo because they are currently looking to hire three new “Diversity & Inclusion” managers with salaries paying up to £48,500 a year.
Elliot Keck rightly pointed out to political blogger, Guido Fawkes, that: “We’re told that tax cuts are years away, yet the tax collectors are still happy to splash the cash on needless hires.” Elliot also appeared on GB News with Alastair Stewart to discuss this story.Â
|
|
Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
|
|
|
|
|
