Taxpayers Alliance: What is it and who does it represent?

Mark Tallentire meets Andrew Allison, the campaign’s County Durham-born national grassroots co-ordinator.

THE Taxpayers’ Alliance describes itself as Britain’s independent grassroots campaign for lower taxes. Opponents say it’s an army of right-wing ideologues. So what is the truth?

“We are strictly non-partisan. You will see us criticise councils of all different parties,” says Andrew Allison, relaxing into a comfortable chair at the Ramside Hall Hotel, near Durham City.

“We decide what we want to comment on and what reports we are going to publish. We’re a free market group. We believe in lower taxes and that tends to put us right of centre more than left of centre.

“We are certainly not used in that respect.

Newspapers with a more right-of-centre approach may publish more of what we do. But we have support in all different parties.”

Perhaps. But how much support? The alliance seems to be quoted in at least one national newspaper most days. What popular base does it have to justify such a high profile?

“That’s testament to our team of around a dozen people who work extremely hard to get the message out,” replies Mr Allison.

In addition, the alliance has about 65,000 registered supporters and many activists and branches across the country, he says.

Currently, there is no North-East branch.

But that’s why Mr Allison has returned to his roots for this visit. After our interview, he has a meeting scheduled with local supporters which he hopes could lead to a branch being formed.

“I’m very excited about what we can do in the North-East,” he says.

Mr Allison, 40, was born in Bishop Auckland, and attended the town’s King James School.

Having worked as a civil servant and driving instructor and been organist at St Luke’s Church, Ferryhill, he went full-time for the alliance in October last year, based in Hull.

“I genuinely want to make a difference,” he says, leaning forward in his chair.

“I want to make sure that we cut out waste in the public sector and that taxpayers get the best value for money.”

But why not let recognised watchdogs, such as the Audit Commission, make that assessment?

He laughs before carefully phrasing his response.

“Government quangos don’t tend to do the best jobs. We need outside, independent scrutiny.”

But is the alliance truly independent? Its work is funded by private donors, who are not named.

It would be illegal to do so, says Mr Allison.

But there are close ties to the Conservative Party. Mr Allison himself is a former member, although he insists neither he nor the alliance hold political ambitions.

“I’m not very good at being a member of anything.

I think if I was a councillor I’d be up before the standards board every few months for saying something I wasn’t allowed to say.

“We believe in speaking up on behalf of taxpayers.

We understand you have to pay tax for certain things.

“We have to defend the country, we have to have essential public services, we have to have police and emergency services.

“But nobody hands over money to the Government with a smile on their face. They want it to be spent wisely.”

The other criticism levelled at the Taxpayers’ Alliance is that they are quick to criticise but rarely suggest alternative solutions – in short, that they’re a bunch of whingers.

Mr Allison smiles. “I can see how that perception exists. But if people look at our website, they will see criticism and praise.

“We can be perceived as an organisation that just knocks, but that certainly isn’t the case.

We don’t believe in just beating them up,” he insists.

We turn to the Coalition Government. How does the alliance view its first 18 months in office?

“It’s encouraging,” says Mr Allison.

“It’s starting to bring down the deficit, which is vitally important otherwise the markets wouldn’t have had any confidence in the UK.

And the transparency agenda is good.”

The alliance successfully campaigned for all council spending above £500 to be published.

“If Government departments and councils have nothing to hide, why should they hide it?

“There’s an appetite for this information. If public spending needs to be cut, people want to know what’s left is spent wisely.”

But he is far from a fan of local government.

“There’s a lot of waste in the public sector,”

he says. “Local government is very top heavy with middle management. Council tax has roughly doubled in the past ten years. If we want Britain to be a successful economy and the manufacturing base to grow, we can’t do that with a high-tax, high-inflation economy.”

SO, to end on a positive note, if the alliance could ask one thing of the Coalition for 2012, what would it be?

Mr Allison’s face lights up like a child on Christmas morning.

“We need a growth strategy,” he says.

“The deficit is being tackled. Public spending is coming down. That will need to continue.

“We need to get something that’s going to kick-start the economy. We’re talking about enterprise zones. We need Britain to be an enterprise zone.”

Mr Osborne, you have the wish list.