One topic that’s been brought up during this election campaign is the amount of Whitehall waste. The government has attempted to crack down on the blob’s woke DEI agenda, whilst Reform have pledged to “slash government waste”. Though taxpayers have been bankrolling more than just rainbow lanyards and struggle sessions for our pen-pushers…

Guido has been given data uncovered by the Taxpayers’ Alliance revealing that in 2023 alone, the Ministry of Defence splurged an eye-watering £981,260 on business class travel for top civil servants. That’s a staggering 265 luxury trips for the bureaucrats. Looks like it’s not just the budget that’s flying high. Meanwhile, Home Secretary James Cleverly opted for a more frugal route, forgoing plush travel for the humble confines of Wizz Air on a recent trip to Lampedusa earlier this year…

Another day, another way the taxpayers’ dime is wasted. According to the Taxpayers’ Alliance, the Covid Inquiry is costing £300,000 a day – £94 million so far in the last two years that it has been going on. The costs of Covid continue…

It doesn’t stop there, as just last year, a group of 265 civil servants dedicated their full-time efforts to furnishing the inquiry – costing a whopping £100,000 a day and totalling £44 million when combined with legal advice. Meanwhile, the Scots have spent £21 million so far on its separate inquiry. John O’Connell of the TPA said on the excessive cost, “The Covid inquiry should be short, sharp and decisive, not an expensive political pantomime.” Still no sign of Simon Case either…

Senior Department of Business and Trade officials managed to spend a whopping £82,625 on 14 trips, including business, first, and premium economy class travel. Just one return flight to Osaka, Japan cost the British taxpayer £10,629…

According to research supplied to Guido by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, ten DBT officials spent an eye-watering £73,369 on bougie flights while their accommodation cost £8,647 between September and December last year. Joanna Marchong of the TPA hits the nail on the head: “Taxpayers will want these business class bureaucrats to be brought back down to earth.” Meanwhile, the Home Secretary took the cattle-class option on Wizz Air to Lampedusa last month…

The government is making noises, as it often likes to do, about clamping down on public sector woke wastage. New guidance to civil servants instructs them to “cease all external Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion spend in the Civil Service unless signed off and cleared by Ministers.” This comes as research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance today reveals spending has more than doubled in the last four years on “staff networks”, which take up civil servants’ time and waste taxpayer funds on events. Examples include Black History Month’s “All about hair – an insight to afro-textured hair” – hosted by the DVLA…

£652,000 in taxpayer cash has been spent by quangos on these networks since 2020 and the amount of staff time taken up by their running is equivalent to around 80 average full-time employees. Transport for London is the worst offender with a total of £120,000 spent and 140 events hosted, followed by the House of Commons at £96,000. £104,248 in taxpayer cash was spent in 2019/20 – that’s now ballooned to £229,767. If this trend continues, by 2040 these networks will cost the taxpayer approximately £2,511,610 annually…

The actual cost is likely to be higher. HMRC admits it does “not ask that colleagues centrally report time spent engaging with Staff Diversity Networks”, so staff time spent on them remains untracked. New figures this week reveal trust in the civil service has fallen by 6% in a year. Guido wonders if the two might be connected…

As taxpayers have been hit by a fresh wave of council tax hikes, council officials will not be feeling so glum. It turns out, as taxpayers save their pennies to pay their councils, 3,106 officials pocketed more than £100,000, while 829 cashed in £150,000 in 2022-23. A record high figure of pen pushers having higher wages than even the Prime Minister…

These figures, revealed by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, come as consistent calls about stretched budgets and struggling services dominate the local headlines and worries arise as over 40 councils claim to be on the brink of bankruptcy. Perhaps the surge in town hall salaries has something to with it…

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“The new financial year has seen council tax soar across the country, and taxpayers will notice that top brass pay has simultaneously surged. Residents can use these figures to ask whether precious funds are really going towards frontline services, or whether town hall bosses can get better value for money.”

Nice work if you can get it…

In the left’s latest move to suck the joy out of living, Labour-run Sheffield council has voted to ban all supposedly “harmful” adverts in the area. Taking on board the woke Adfreecities’ advice, it looks like this council is just the first to succeed in nullifying our streets. Unsurprisingly, sinful companies relating to junk food, vaping and gambling are amongst those targeted…

This time though, the local nanny-state has gone further. The council is banning any advert that links to climate change. That includes airlines, airports, and anything not “green”. Even ads for hybrid cars and baby formula aren’t allowed to be seen..

“Local taxpayers expect councillors to be delivering services, not wasting time on this pointless nannying nonsense“.

Despite recognising that this will hit advertising revenue by 20-30% (up to £84,000 a year), the council still feels they’re fighting the good fight to “raise awareness“. Not like there are more important issues councils should be focussing on. Yet another Labour council wasting taxpayers’ time and money…