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This week, TPA research revealed that public bodies are continuing to dole out taxpayer cash to the lobby group Stonewall. Membership of the controversial ‘Diversity Champions’ scheme cost taxpayers at least £709,225 in 2021-22 with Stonewall receiving over £1,221,222 from the public purse!
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These shocking sums come after government departments were pushed to leave the scheme in May 2021 by then foreign secretary, Liz Truss. In spite of this, the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office renewed their membership of the scheme for another year in October 2021 and the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs are still members.
On top of the money spent on the Diversity Champions scheme and various events, Stonewall received £403,395 through grants from public bodies. The devolved administrations were the worst offenders when it came to splashing the cash via grants on Stonewall. The Welsh government paid out £168,870 and the Scottish Government handed over £99,917!
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Our revelations made quite a splash. Standing up for taxpayers, our chief economist, Duncan Simpson, said: “Taxpayers should not be subsidising controversial campaigners. Some public bodies continue to prop up pressure groups like Stonewall with taxpayers’ cash, despite ministers urging against it and budgets facing a serious squeeze.”
It’s high time ministers and public bodies got a grip on this kind of wasteful spending. We’ll never stop calling out this misuse of your money. Click here to donate to our campaign!
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Petition: Ditch the diversity demagogues!
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We’ve long campaigned against the ballooning number of equality, diversity, and inclusion jobs that seem to have spread to every corner of the public sector. Even with a 70 year high tax burden, public bodies continue to spend hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on these right-on roles.
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That’s why we’re calling on ministers and elected officials at every level of government to crack down on these non-jobs and focus funds on the frontline. Click here to sign the petition!
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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O’Connell’s opinions
On Monday, John O’Connell, our chief executive, took charge of City AM’s Notebook. Giving his thoughts on the stories of the day, John covered everything from NHS reform to bin collections.
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In his column, John gave sound advice to politicians of all stripes: “Stop deferring to Twitter noise as a measure of support or otherwise for an idea” Hear Hear!
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Concessions could be costly
With yet more public sector strikes taking place this week, our digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, took to the airwaves to give taxpayers a voice in the discussions.
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Putting the pay demands in perspective, Joe told LBC listeners: “When we talk about public sector workers, we’re talking about taxpayers’ money ultimately… matching inflation with pay rises in the public sector, you’re looking at around the £15 to £18 billion mark, so that really is substantial money.”
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Flights of fancy
In an exclusive for Daily Express readers, a TPA investigation has exposed that the Department for International Trade spent almost £600,000 on first class flights in three months!
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Our investigations manager, Elliot Keck, brought ministers back down to earth saying: “Taxpayers will be livid at the sky-high cost of luxury flights for trade bosses. With soaring taxes sending living standards into a nosedive, this will only add insult to injury.”
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There is no quick fix to small boats
This week’s blog, guest written by Charlie Protheroe, takes a look at the ongoing fiasco of small boat landings on the south coast.
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As Charlie says, “British taxpayers have long known that migration levels cannot outstrip the capacity of our infrastructure.” Giving us a deepdive look at the issues, Charlie explores what more the government could be doing to reduce the crossings and also how to treat those who have arrived. Click here to read this insightful blog.
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Wakefield taxpayers look set to be on the hook for £2.6 million after a council ‘blunder’ when selling some land to a developer.
Having uncovered tanks and a drainage area, gas and water mains pipes were found. The local authority is now proposing to borrow £1.2 million and pay the developer to carry out rectification works. The loan will cost £57,000 a year in interest, money that should be going to frontline services or keeping council tax down.
Town hall bosses must get a handle on their budgets and stop these costly cock-ups!
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Benjamin Elks
Operations Manager
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