Research work

TaxPayers' Alliance research is invariably a collaborative effort and I am neither claiming sole responsibility for these reports nor suggesting that I'm not proud of the part I have played in the other work of the TPA since I started there last May. However, these are the studies that I played the most central role in producing:

The Looming Winter of Discontent, May 2008: This report sets out how Britain faces a looming winter of discontent as public sector pay costs have increased massively in recent years, leaving little money left, and public sector staff are going on strike far more frequently than their private sector counterparts.

The Cost of Crime in London, April 2008: The report presents the first estimates of the cost of crime in each of the 32 London boroughs. The total cost of crime for London was £3 billion or £400 per person last year.

The Economic and Political Case Against Higher Fuel Duty, March 2008: The report shows that people living in marginal constituencies are more likely to drive to work and how motorists are already paying too much tax. It calls on the Government to abandon the 2p rise in Fuel Duty set for April.

Budget 2008 Report, March 2008: The report shows how higher spending on public services has failed to deliver results and how controlling spending and reducing taxes could deliver significant economic benefits. It also sets out the savings from not rehiring the quarter of civil servants due to retire over the next decade.

Wasting Lives: A statistical analysis of NHS performance in a European context since 1981, January 2008: The report sets out the ongoing failure of the NHS to match European levels of healthcare performance and the inability of new money, since 1999, to rectify the situation.

Funding Hate Education, January 2008: In the first of a series of papers analysing the effectiveness of expenditure on overseas aid, the report reveals disturbing evidence showing how British taxpayers’ money has been spent helping to fund hate education and promote violence in the Middle East.

Rewards for Failure: Hospital Acquired Infections, December 2007: Presents a list of the 25 NHS trusts with the worst C. difficile hospital infection rates and compares these infection rates with the pay of the trusts’ Chief Executives.

Response to the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group Report, September 2007: The TPA attacks the intellectual assumptions behind the report and argues that the Policy Group’s recommendations would lead to more tax, regulation and bureaucracy, would curb vital infrastructure development and would undermine free trade.

The Case Against Further Green Taxes, September 2007: The first comparison of official and academic estimates of the social cost of Britain’s carbon emissions with the revenue raised from green taxes shows that environmental taxation is already above its optimal level. The report also presents an audit of current green taxation, showing that each green tax has major flaws.

Green Tokenism: Government Cars, August 2007: The research note finds that if the Government had not bought hybrid cars, it could have planted 74,000 trees with the money saved, a far better environmental move.

Effect of the 2012 Olympics on Construction Inflation, August 2007: The research note calculates that the London Olympics will add £4 billion to construction inflation in London and the South East.

The Global Warming Industry in Local Government, July 2007: The research note gives details of employees working to reduce carbon emissions in a random sample of 25 local authorities.
Beyond the Dome: Government projects £23 billion over budget, July 2007: A systematic investigation into cost overruns in over 300 public sector capital projects over the last two years reveals a £23 billion total.