Ed Davey voted ‘Pinhead of the Year’

Energy Secretary Ed Davey has been voted ‘Pinhead of the Year’ in a poll by the Taxpayers’ Alliance. The unfortunate gong was awarded to him after being nominated for increasing […]

Energy Secretary Ed Davey has been voted ‘Pinhead of the Year’ in a poll by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

The unfortunate gong was awarded to him after being nominated for increasing the staff headcount at the Department of Energy and Climate Change every quarter over the last year as well as for bringing in ‘green’ policies which the group said are “punishing already hard-pressed families”.

Mr Davey won the support of 42.4% of the votes which were cast online in the ten days running up to Christmas Eve, beating fellow MP Nadine Dorries – who received much approbation for her stint on reality TV show ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!’ – and Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten.

Another runner-up was the former Leader of Leicestershire County Council David Parsons, who took 202 chauffeur-driven trips to London when taking the train would have saved £25,000 of taxpayers’ cash.

Jonathan Isaby, Political Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “When the Government is rightly talking about the need for cuts to reduce the size of the public sector, it is astounding that Mr Davey has overseen yet further expansion of his own Whitehall department during the year.

“He also gets the Pinhead of the Year award for continuing to advocate a variety of policies – such as subsidies for renewable energy and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme – which are designed to help the environment but are in fact costing taxpayers dear through higher energy and fuel bills.”

A spokesperson for DECC would not reveal whether Mr Davey was aware of the unfortunate accolade, only adding: “DECC is a growing department, founded in 2008, with a large agenda and it has to accommodate this… with an expanding department.”

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