Rob Surman

Chariot: a gleeful FU to #Austerity .Now streaming on @primevideouk amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DWY49D35

This shameless lying bastard has a lot to answer for. The false claim that Britain is a 'high tax, high welfare' country is a myth pushed by free-market extremists. Matthew Elliott, now Baron Elliott of Mickle Fell, is one of the UK's most prominent right-wing political strategists and lobbyists. His cynical manipulative ideological extremism has caused untold harm to Britain and to ordinary British people. He founded #TuftonStreet's TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) in 2004, Big Brother Watch in 2009, and Business for Britain, which evolved into the Vote Leave campaign. He served as chief executive of Vote Leave during the 2016 EU referendum and previously directed the successful NOtoAV campaign in 2011. In 2024, he was elevated to the House of Lords on insane conspiracy theorist Liz Truss's resignation honours list, and he now leads the Jobs Foundation while remaining active in Conservative circles and the upper chamber. Elliott is a key figure in importing American-style astroturf lobbying and dark-money techniques into British politics. His organisations, particularly those clustered around #55TuftonStreet, have operated with limited transparency on funding sources, allowing wealthy donors, including corporate and libertarian interests, to exert outsized influence on policy without proper scrutiny. The TPA has consistently declined to disclose most of its donors, fuelling accusations that it functions as a front for ideologically aligned backers rather than a genuine grassroots voice. The infamous £350 million a week for the #NHS claim on the Vote Leave battle bus has been widely condemned as misleading, given the complexities of the UK's EU budget contributions and rebate. In 2018, the Electoral Commission ruled that Vote Leave breached spending limits through improper coordination with the separate BeLeave group, resulting in a £61,000 fine and a police referral. Although Elliott has denied personal wrongdoing and courts later questioned aspects of the Commission's interpretation, the episode is often cited as evidence that the official Leave side stretched or violated electoral rules to secure victory. Earlier charity-related issues have also drawn scrutiny. Elliott established the Political and Economic Research Trust in 2006 as an educational charity, but investigations by the Charity Commission in 2011 and 2015 highlighted inadequate controls over grants to non-charitable political entities, including Business for Britain. One £50,000 grant for an anti-EU report was ordered to be repaid. When his peerage nomination was announced, opponents, including Liberal Democrat figures, urged the House of Lords Appointments Commission to block it on propriety grounds linked to these funding arrangements, though he was ultimately cleared and took his seat. Elliott is strongly linked to climate-sceptic networks and fossil-fuel interests, with his work framing EU environmental regulations as overreach. His early involvement in the Conservative Friends of Russia group, including a Moscow trip, has been raised in discussions of pre-Brexit Tory-Russia ties, though he distanced himself from further participation. Links to US libertarian figures, such as those in the Koch network and Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, which inspired his UK efforts, reinforce perceptions of him as an importer of aggressive, low-tax, deregulatory campaigning. Elliott is a highly effective operator who has prioritised ideological wins and personal advancement over transparency, factual rigour, and democratic standards. His successes in referendums and sustained influence on Conservative thinking, especially during the Truss era, come at the cost of diminished public trust through opaque networks, rule-bending, and misleading messaging. The recurring themes of financial opacity, electoral controversies, misleading misinformation using decontextualised cherry-picked often incomplete data, and ideological networking dominate his career.

"We've got to stop equating the government's finances with a household." Zack Polanski speaking about government finances, austerity, and the problems with the UK's fiscal framework at our event this week

We had 14 years of austerity, which left people unable to afford to live. Badenoch wants to go straight back to £50 billion in cuts to repeat the mistake, as do the Reform rejects. Utterly stupid idiots.. #bbcqt

The UK does not have a welfare problem. It's got a corrupt politician and corrupt political elite problem. It's got a billionaire problem. Tax the rich.

Looming above the Via Sacra, the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina feels less like a ruin and more like a survivor. Its weathered columns have endured mighty empires and the slow passage of nearly two millennia - a reminder that in Rome, nothing truly disappears. #Rome #Roma

Basic Income/Reverse Income Tax is a Human Right that should replace Welfare by always making a person better off if they work..

Britain has a patriotism problem. And it involves the very rich: Ex-Prince Andrew passed confidential trade documents Epstein Sir Jim Ratcliffe offshores his wealth to avoid paying billions in tax. Peter Mandelson is investigated for passing market sensitive information to Epstein Remember, while the powerful get us fighting each other we forget to focus on them.

❌ ‘The longer we accept this as normal, the greater the damage it does’ Our Chief Analyst @StatsPeter gives an overview of the numbers in #UKPoverty2026 of children, working-age adults and pensioners living in poverty, and what the lack of progress means for society 🔽

This is shocking. New @jrf_uk report has found ‘very deep poverty’ in Britain has hit its worst level in 30 years. Why is this not on every UK news show this morning?

@mikerainey82 May be the best book title in existence.

My new book about addiction recovery is available for preorder now. It’s a funny read, but also can provide value for people struggling with addiction. I am a certified retard with Korn tattoos and if I can figure it out, anybody can. Order it here: OnPercs.com/store

YOUR GRANDPARENTS BOUGHT A HOME ON 1 INCOME YOU CAN’T RENT A STUDIO ON 2 THAT’S NOT A PERSONAL FAILURE THAT’S A SYSTEM FAILURE

6,000 people could have their homes torn down as part of a £2.2bn project in which 1,266 council houses and 567 properties belonging to private homeowners could be repossessed in a mass compulsory purchase order for the area. “I own the freehold. I’ve put everything in here, this was a lifelong home. I had no thoughts I would ever need to move and, if I did, it would be on my own terms,” he said. “It’s the real injustice of it all, and at the same time the council are being totally incompetent at meeting with us.” What have I been repeatedly telling you about zone fever and compulsory purchase orders? There are 6 SEZs in Birmingham, these are deregulated carve-outs with separate laws and regulations from the host country. Compulsory purchase orders apply to business, agricultural, and residential properties. theguardian.com/uk-news/articl…

@ZackPolanski @joshsimonsmp Did he really describe opponents as “lefties”?!

Yet another crap video from another Labour MP (@joshsimonsmp) attacking me and "lefties." Showing us exactly who they are. They serve only power & weath. 2026 - the year of people power. Join.greenparty.org.uk

Modern Monetary Theory — or modern money as I prefer to call it — simply describes the truth about how money works in the real economy. Governments create new money every time they spend. Taxation removes money from the economy to control inflation. That’s not a theory: it’s how the Bank of England says money works. So why do politicians insist the government can “run out of money”? Why do they say the NHS can’t be funded, but war and bank bailouts always can? In this video, I share 12 essential questions to challenge politicians when they deny economic reality — and ensure the power of money is used for people, not for the wealthy few. youtu.be/S3RGCq5KnTU?si…

Why does poverty still exist in one of the richest countries on earth? In this video, I respond to a claim made by Mark Littlewood that poverty “should be over” because the UK spends £300bn a year on benefits. This video explains how antisocial neoliberal economics deliberately creates poverty — using fear and insecurity to keep wages low, rents high, and wealth flowing up to the richest. Redistribution in that case is not a luxury — it’s justice. youtu.be/GfihKzPmRIg?si…

🚨BOOM! The Petition calling for a public inquiry into Russian influence on UK politics & democracy has now rocketed past 80,000 signatures! Let’s get it to 100,000 this weekend. If a petition is what it’s going to take let’s get this done! petition.parliament.uk/petitions/7442…

Rachel Reeves will not fix Britain today. So I’ve published my Alternative Budget for 2025 — a complete plan to end austerity, rebuild public services, reconnect savings with investment, reform the Treasury, bring the Bank of England back under democratic control, transform housing, and fund a green transition. This video is a full guided tour through the ideas in the 20,000-word budget I’ve just released on Funding the Future. Download the full PDF here: taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/downloads/ We can rebuild this country. We just need to stop believing the myths about money, tax and “borrowing”. Hope is a policy choice. youtu.be/WvIyRN3XOLs?si…

When neoliberal policies cannot deliver growth, as is clear from the OBR leaked Budget figures, what is the point of this antisocial policy that is pursued by most UK political parties? Why are they failing us with policies that will always fail? #Budget2025

Trial by jury is a cornerstone of our democracy and an essential safeguard against authoritarianism. It is truly frightening that such a fundamental freedom is now under attack. Once rights are lost, they are not easy to win back. We must resist this with all we’ve got.

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME NOW! theguardian.com/technology/202…