The Freedom Association’s Tea Party Fringe event at the Conservative Spring Conference in Brighton on Saturday was a huge success — a tribute not only to the organisation of TFA Director Simon Richards, but to the drawing power of our speaker Dan Hannan MEP. The Room at the Brighton Hotel would have held 200 comfortably. With extra chairs and standing room at both ends, there were around 300 in the audience, and well over fifty were turned away at the door for lack of space. It was absolutely the fringe event of the Conference.
Following on from the amazingly successful grass roots Tea Party campaign in the US, Dan made the case not only for reduced government spending, and for spending cuts rather than tax increases to address the deficit, but also for proper democratic control over spending. He argued that the government, and our increasingly presidential Prime Minister, had such a grip on decision-making that MPs as the representatives of the people had largely lost control of fiscal policy.
The event made the national press, and has generated hugely increased traffic on the TFA web-site at www.tfa.net. It is encouraging that the issue of tax and spending and the deficit can generate such a turnout. We need to keep up the pressure for a radical change in the way we do politics and fiscal policy in the country.
Roger Helmer MEP 
Succinct and on the ball. Although only a layman, as one of the vast army of taxpayer GB,even in retirement; I require far more say and detail of how taxes are spent. This could be published on-line. I have a ‘take no prisoners’ blog, Government by PlayGroup. http://polly-tickle.blogspot.com I’m sure you will get a view that will give you some kind of insight from my perspective.