Stop paying full time union officials and cut council tax, Eric Pickles tells town halls "Trade union activities and campaigning in local councils should be funded by members" subscriptions, not bankrolled by the taxpayer. Freedom from state dependency will mean that trade union bosses will better reflect and respond to the wishes and views of the grassroots members who pay the bill. A list of suggestions includes only allowing council staff to work for unions in their spare time. Councils should also charge councils for collecting union subscriptions, or end the practice completely. He will also suggest that political material, or material which incites industrial action, should not be produced or distributed on or using taxpayer-funded facilities. Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers" Alliance, said: "The Taxpayers" Alliance has long been concerned about the abuse of facility time by the trade unions, so it's great to see the Government taking action. It's absolutely right that facility time in the public sector should be scaled back to private sector levels: this would save taxpayers tens of millions of pounds. "It is also essential that all taxpayer-funded time spent on union duties is fully and accurately recorded and that the free collection of dues from employees" salaries is brought to an end. "Eric Pickles" proposals for local councils are on the money and should be replicated across all public sector bodies."