Fearmongering and desperation

One thing the politicians that make up the Labour government don't like is accountability. They particularly don't like it when it constantly focuses on one area that they are not very good at namely the economy. This is why Labour do not like the Taxpayers Alliance, because they highlight the waste and inefficiency of government spending, something that Labour excels at. This is also why Government in general like Quango's simply because it bypasses accountability and allows the Quango to go ahead and do stuff that the government know they'd be hauled over the coals for.
So, instead of producing facts and figures to show how wrong the Taxpayer Alliance are and also how efficient government departments and spending are what the supporters of the Government do is go for personal attacks.

From the Grauniad.

Taxpayers' Alliance admits director doesn't pay British tax

The Taxpayers' Alliance, a campaign group that calls for tax and spending cuts and claims to represent the interests of taxpayers, has admitted one of its directors does not pay British tax.
The Guardian has learned that Alexander Heath, a director of the increasingly influential free market, rightwing lobby group, lives in a farmhouse in the Loire and has not paid British tax for years.
The admission, made by Matthew Elliott, the TPA's chief executive and founder, is potentially embarrassing for the Conservative party, which has close links to the group that claims to be "the guardian of taxpayers' money, the voice of taxpayers in the media and their representative at Westminster".
At the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week, the TPA's influence was underlined when David Cameron and George Osborne followed its recommendations for freezing public sector pay and capping civil servants' salaries at the level of the prime minister, unless approved by the chancellor.

Now my first reaction is so what, so Alexander Heath lives in France, does that mean as an EU citizen he's not allowed to work for a UK company? Do I envy him living in the Loire? Hell yes! Do I think where he lives has any bearing on his ability to hold the UK Government to account for waste, no, not at all. This is just a personal attack by Government supporters to try and make the Taxpayers Alliance appear to be something they aren't. Yes the Taxpayers Alliance have influence, but that's only because the way Labour have run the economy into the ground, people know things are going to get tougher and one way of easing things on the public is to go after waste and inefficiency. Public spending has soared out of control during this Labour administration, it needs to be reined back and a pay freeze coupled with budget cuts is the easiest way to get control of the situation back.

Senior Labour figures said the admission that a TPA director does not pay British tax "should ring alarm bells" about the group's influence on the debate on tax and spending. The group has also campaigned against green taxes, quangos and town hall pay.

Why should it ring alarm bells? Other than the fact that senior Labour figures can't make his life a misery by taxing the living daylights out of him.

"The least we can expect for an organisation that purports to represent the interests of British taxpayers is that it is run by people that pay British tax," said Jon Cruddas MP, who said he is one of many Labour MPs concerned about the TPA's growing influence.

Again why? Labour have set up Quango's that are  affecting my life that I have no influence at all with and they live and work in this country and who appear to be accountable to no-one.

 "When it emerges that one of the directors doesn't [pay British tax], their motivations seem questionable and alarm bells should start ringing for anyone who comes across the TPA."

Only if you're wasting taxpayers money, but no doubt Mr Cruddas doesn't believe Labour do that.

He said the organisation's backers suggested there was "a revolving door" between Tory donors and supporters of the TPA, although the group denies it is a front for the Conservatives. The TPA's financial backers include Sir Anthony Bamford, the owner of the JCB digger company, and Tony Gallagher, the owner of Gallagher Estates, both Conservative donors, who with 32 other businessmen have donated about £80,000 to the group through the Midlands Industrial Council.

Ah, hear we have the nub of the grievance, they have rich backers who are also Tory Party donors. In other words they are a Tory party front (wonder what Mr Cruddas thinks of Unites contributions to Labour and the influence they have in the Party)
Now the Taxpayers Alliance don't strike me as a Tory front, far from it, I've no doubt they'll be just as tenacious attacking what they see as wastes of money no matter the government and I doubt that their sponsors will go away if the TPA attack the Tories after all, it's in the interests of the sponsors to see low tax rates, not a Tory Government in power.

The TPA's links to the Conservatives include monthly meetings where speakers have included Eric Pickles, the Conservative party chairman, Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, and Daniel Hannan, the Tory Eurosceptic MEP who recently claimed the NHS was "a 60-year mistake".

Ah the politics of spite, got to have the Dan Hannan jibe in to sate the leftist sense of grievance despite the fact that there is monumental waste in the NHS and that no other country in their right mind would copy it.

All in all just a desperate Grauniad smear for Labour against a group who rigorously hold them to account and have the temerity to believe as do most of the right that the best people to decide on how their money is spent are the people who earn it, not the wasteful overtaxing Labour Government.