Yesterday Guido revealed HMRC has beefed up its diversity team to 30 staff. They’ve also allocated more than 100 of their beancounters to oversee vague ‘staff networks’. According to an FOI by the Taxpayers’ Alliance seen by Guido, this year 119 HMRC staff are allowed to spend 20% of their working hours on seven networks:
Each network has one Network Chair, two Network Deputy Chairs and 14 Regional Steering Group Members. That is the equal to 23.8 full-time equivalent staff. Recent events include ‘Our Voices Matter’, ‘Multicultural Event in Portsmouth’ and ‘Dyslexia from a cultural Perspective’. The pen-pushers coming up with ever-creative ways to avoid doing any actual work…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”