POLITICS in PUBS Newcastle

From anger to action: holding power to account
Notes from meeting held on 10^th June 2025

In June we welcomed Ben Elks of the Taxpayers' Alliance, a grassroots organisation dedicated to resisting wasteful spending and overreach by government.

In his introduction, Ben drew attention to the online UK debt clock, estimating current UK national debt at over £2.7 trillion, rising by thousands every second of every day. The debt could fund the NHS for 15 years...

Among Taxpayers' Alliance campaigns are those targeting Quangos (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations) - unaccountable bodies with huge budgets able to regulate significant parts of the economy without tangible oversight, Local Government spending - which often seems wasteful and fails to fulfil the "empty the bins and fix the potholes" expectations of many voters, the Chagos deal - which has attracted widespread concern, as well as a new campaign aiming to abolish Inheritance Tax.

Our tax burden - the proportion of the UK's GDP collected in taxes - is now higher than at any point since 1948 and it is forecast to keep rising. Ben argued that taxes on consumption are preferable to taxes on income, because income tax disincentivises work and investment. As things stand, we have several income tax rates up to 45% plus National Insurance. The TPA propose to replace all these with a single tax on all income at a single rate of 30%, which Ben said would be fairer, more straightforward and more conducive to economic growth.

Ben illustrated the vexatiousness sometimes encountered by the public when dealing with local government bureaucracy with the case of a council taxpayer who was fined heavily for leaving bins out early when about to go on holiday.

High salaries - over £100,000 - of some local government officers, millions spent on EDI and employees working from home - even in Ibiza - were signs of questionable or flagrant inefficiency.

Ben highlighted some practices that could be useful in opposing waste and overspending, such as Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to elicit relevant data, local press campaigns on specific issues and highlighting problems during elections, especially in marginal wards.

Group discussion raised the issue of statutory requirements of local councils, for example, in education and adult social care, which were often underfunded.

A general obligation to offer value for money in government spending seemed difficult to sustain in practice. Regulation favoured suppliers better able to fulfil regulatory obligations and some suppliers were seen as more attractive because they had fulfilled similar tenders in the past. A "Reform DOGE" might help cut waste if it could protect local political independence while sharing lessons learned.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were a further source of tax spending with little oversight, some of which actively lobbied against government policies having been funded by the government to do so. NGO senior staff salaries could be very high, with hundreds of CEOs earning more than MPs.

Mayoral bodies and Police and Crime Commissioners appeared to create yet further layers of bureaucracy and expenditure.

In opposition to Inheritance Tax, Ben pointed out the tax was anti-aspirational and a kind of double taxation over and above income and consumption taxes, and that it was a burden not on the deceased, but on their family. The origin of such taxes in the era of landed gentry was raised in response, although the present threshold of around £350,000 weakened this comparison.

Members of the group pressed questions regarding the sources of funding upon which the TaxPayers' Alliance depended. Ben was consistently careful to respond that funders' identities were protected for reasons of privacy, but that policy was not influenced by donors.

Ben asked people to keep asking questions of government and, if they need help or advice, to get in touch!

Martin Evison and Paula Lightfoot, 2025

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