Manchester – Who Governs Britain?
On Tuesday 25th February 2025, Politics in Pubs Manchester met at The Welcome Inn to discuss ‘Who Governs Britain’. We were delighted to welcome Benjamin Elks, Grassroots Development Manager from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, to offer some insight into this topic and lead the discussion.
Introduction
Ben began by introducing the TaxPayers’ Alliance. It was set up in 2004 to speak for ordinary taxpayers fed up with government waste, increasing taxation, and a lack of transparency at all levels of government. Its mission is to cut waste and reform taxes and public services. The TaxPayers’ Alliance produces research papers on a wide range of topics including taxes, public spending, national debt, and ‘rich lists’ identifying people in receipt of taxpayers’ money as part of their £100,000+ remuneration packages.
Recent TaxPayers’ Alliance campaigns include the abolition of inheritance tax, highlighting councils which are offering their staff five days’ pay for four days’ work, and fighting council tax rises.
Who Governs Britain?
On paper, the laws governing our lives are set by our elected representatives in parliament. However since the 1970s we’ve seen the rise of Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations. QUANGOs are ‘arms-length’ bodies funded by taxpayers but not controlled directly by central government.
From domestic agencies with sweeping regulatory powers to international QUANGOs, who are these unelected, unaccountable bodies shaping UK policy and spending billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money?
Firstly, how much tax do we pay?
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has calculated that:
- An average household during their lifetime- 45 working years and 15 years in retirement- will pay £1,238,760 in direct and indirect taxes (in 2021-22 prices). The average lifetime tax has almost doubled in real terms from the amount of tax the average household paid in 1977.
- The average gross income for a household in 2021-22 was £63,431. This means that the average household would have to give 19.5 years’ worth of gross income to cover a lifetime’s worth of tax.
- The average lifetime tax has fallen on only four occasions from the previous year since 1977. These were: 2002-03; 2008-09; 2012-13; and 2020-21.
- An average household over a lifetime will pay £587,760 in income tax; £181,590 of VAT; £173,235 of employee’s national insurance contributions; £91,230 of council tax; and £40,350 of employers’ national insurance contributions.
Who is spending our taxes?
Most people expect their elected representatives to make decisions about how taxpayers’ money is spent. This includes MPs in Parliament, councillors in local authorities, Metro Mayors like Andy Burnham in cities, and combined authorities like GMCA. People are less aware of how much of their tax is allocated to the 450 QUANGOs operating independently of our elected representatives. Examples include Natural England, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the School Closures Review Panel.
How much do QUANGOs cost the taxpayer?
QUANGOs are currently costing the British taxpayer £224 billion per year. This represents £200,000 of an average household’s £1.2 million lifetime tax liability being spent on/by QUANGOs.
Thirteen new QUANGOs have come into existence since this government assumed power in July 2024, bringing it to around 450 QUANGOs in total. However, mission creep, incompetence and poor performance can result in failure to deliver core functions, and wasted money. Ben gave some examples:
- Public Health England was set up in 2013 in order to prepare for a pandemic.
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission has given taxpayers’ money to campaigners who lobby government.
- Arts Council England gave £150,000 of taxpayers’ money to the ‘Bureau of Silly Ideas’.
- UK Research and Innovation receives £8 billion of taxpayers’ money and gave £200,000 of it to a project researching ‘cultural dances online’. It gave £1.1 million to ‘inclusive histories’. And £214,000 to making AI robots more ‘trans friendly’.
What about Global QUANGOs?
Global QUANGOs include bodies which concern themselves with global health, taxation, and foreign aid. Examples include the United Nations (including annual COP conferences), World Health Organisation, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has calculated that between 2009-2021, Global QUANGOs cost British taxpayers £85 billion. This represents £70,800 of an average household’s £1.2 million lifetime tax liability being spent on/by Global QUANGOs. But is the money being entrusted to the right hands and for the right outcomes? Ben informed us that:
The WHO Director General was accused of covering up three cholera epidemics.
The President of COP28 is the head of UAE’s national oil company.
While busying themselves with gender ideology culture wars, the IMF and OECD engage in overly pessimistic predictions on growth.
The OECD campaigns for minimum global tax rates when nations should be competing against one another aided by their own nation’s domestic tax policy.
Accountability and transparency
Ben explained that QUANGOs allow elected representatives to distance themselves from controversial political issues. It is a reflection upon the quality of MPs and others that they are reluctant to be held accountable for policy, decisions and spending, preferring instead to transfer power to QUANGO staff who have not been elected.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance believes that all public spending should be accountable and transparent. However, the lack of ministerial oversight and ‘arms-length’ nature of QUANGOs provides an opportunity for publication of accounts to be delayed without penalty, rewards to be given for failure (e.g. HS2), and spending to be ‘hidden’ – including via the deployment of Freedom of Information exemptions.
What needs to happen?
Some QUANGOs are useful but there is often too much crossover between them, and too little transparency. Increased parliamentary oversight would require QUANGOs – and our elected representatives – to be more democratically accountable to taxpayers. Sunset clauses would schedule in a review of whether a QUANGO has served its purpose and can be disbanded or whether it is still required.
What can individuals do?
Raise issues with our own MPs.
Take part in consultations.
Vote for better parliamentarians who will take responsibility for policy and decision-making.
Be informed – sign up for TaxPayers’ Alliance updates.
Discussion
Housing is a good example of how arms length organisations protect politicians from ‘difficult’ decisions. Housing Associations can be blamed even though properties are owned by the council.
Q. Why do we need any QUANGOs – why can’t their functions be delivered by civil servants within ministerial departments? A. In some cases, having an arms-length body is advantageous – the ONS is less likely to cook the official statistics books than a politician.
Q. How is the Taxpayers’ Alliance funded? A. By private donations from a few thousand donors. It is apolitical but its work resonates more with some political parties more than others.
The pensions industry is overseen by at least five regulatory QUANGOs. Evidence of overlap between them and/or empire expansion should lead to their immediate closure.
Q. Is Elon Musk’s DOGE solution the way forward? A. The TaxPayers’ Alliance has been pioneering the way for a DOGE since 2004.
Q. There are too many ‘jobs for the boys’ and they don’t necessarily have the right qualifications or experience. Should MPs be prohibited from working in QUANGOs when they leave Parliament to prevent a conflict of interest? A. Perhaps. Or have a specified interval of time between them. At least appoint competent people – for example, the new chair of the Office of Value for Money is the ex-chair of HS2.
Perhaps there should be a QUANGO to streamline all other QUANGOs and ensure value for money for the British taxpayer.
Funnelling money through opaque, unaccountable QUANGOs could be described as theft from the taxpayer. How do we know if money given overseas actually ends up where it is needed? Politicians need to be accountable for how public money is spent.
There is a massive democratic deficit as politicians blame QUANGOs for unpopular decisions. The Bank of England may set interest rates but they are acting on behalf of politicians. Ofgem’s recent announcement on increasing the energy price cap by 6.4% is a government decision. The gap between the demos and elected representatives is getting ever wider – politicians don’t trust the people (exemplified by the EU referendum) and the people lack faith in decisions made by politicians.
The current government intends to get rid of county councils in exchange for arms-length bodies run by unelected officials. Money syphoned through these bodies is much less accountable. In housing these bodies have little governance or accountability – some have borrowed and spent and almost been bankrupted and there seems to be no appetite to address this.
Reviewing QUANGOs would be like Whackamole. MPs are told what to do. Corporations have too much influence. The contract between people and government is breaking down. The tax system should be scrapped and re-designed from scratch.
Councils are setting up and registering with Companies House as private companies in order to limit their liabilities and stave off bankruptcy.
The British government set up a company called the National Electricity Systems Operator under the control of Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband who has claimed on many occasions that it is providing him with independent advice.
Global QUANGOs like the World Bank use loans – of our money – given to developing countries to force the renewable energy agenda.
The system of QUANGOs isn’t meant to work. Things worked better in the past. Politicians have distanced themselves from unpopular decisions.
A good tax system should be fair, cheap to collect and hard to avoid. Council tax is a wealth tax because most people’s wealth is tied up in their houses. National Insurance is a tax on jobs. The planned NI increase will be damaging to young people with no experience – they will be too expensive to hire.
Q. With Musk’s DOGE review of spending – how much could we save? A. Musk claims that DOGE has saved $5,000 per person since it began 30 days ago. The Taxpayers’ Alliance will be announcing the next round of Rich List roadshows soon – follow the TaxPayers’ Alliance to find out more.
Politics in Pubs would like to thank Ben for leading tonight’s discussion on who governs Britain and providing some surprising insights on how they are spending our money. Thanks also to our hosts at The Welcome Inn. Cheers all!
About the TaxPayers’ Alliance
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) was launched by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum in early 2004 to speak for ordinary taxpayers fed up with government waste, increasing taxation, and a lack of transparency in all levels of government. No party was standing up for taxpayers and nearly all politicians were committed to bigger government, higher spending and secretive deals behind closed doors.
The TPA sought to challenge this status quo. The United States, Germany, France and Italy all had groups dedicated to defending taxpayers against new taxes, exposing waste and putting forward the case for spending restraint. The TPA was set up to ensure that British taxpayers were no longer ignored by politicians.
Its mission is to cut waste, reform taxes and public services. To find out more visit their website:
https://www.taxpayersalliance.com/our_mission or follow them on:
