Pick a question for Brown, Clegg & Cameron...

nottRobin

It's a shame to see most people voting to remove tax from energy or to make energy cheaper. The number one issue facing this country and this world is climate change - we all need to learn to use less energy, and making energy more expensive is a very effective way of helping that happen.

I'd like to see more questions about increasing welfare, increasing tax on the highest bands or other wealth re-distribution schemes, or maybe benefits to help poorer people pay for their energy bills. Instead of making energy cheaper, make it so those least able to afford it can afford it, but keep it expensive for everyone else.

Paul_Herring

It's a shame to see most people voting to remove tax from energy or to make energy cheaper. The number one issue facing this country and this world is climate change

The climate has been changing for millennia, and it will continue to do so, with or without our help.

Whether man has any significant effect on it, as you seem to imply however, is highly debatable.

I agree there are many good reasons for cutting down on energy usage. Cost, the fact some of comes from non-renewable resources, and pollution being three of them.

"Global Warming" (remember Global Cooling in the 70's? What happened to that then?) is not.

ChrisDowning

I find the attention given to most of the election issues rather depressing and full of rather dubious motives.

The big deal is all about the economy. Nobody can promise anything much until that's sorted out. It's that bad.

BASICS - We are nearly a £1000 Billion in debt - £1000 Billion more than ten year ago when it was about zero - and we are adding to that each year by about £170 billion (this year's number). Taking 1% (£7B) out of Government spend, which is about £670 Billion right now, (£170 Billion above what comes in in taxes each year) really does nothing to address how we get rid of borrowing that £170B OR addressing that huge £Trillion debt that's costing Britain £28 Billion a year. How do we stop it growing and how do we stop borrowing each year?

Now if we took easy numbers and just spent what was coming in in taxes we'd have to cut the Government budget by about 25%! Or we can increase the tax take by 34% - the amount we are overspending. And neither of these plans actually starts to address how to get rid of the £Trillion debt we built up in the last 10 years. Let's say we go for a 10 year reversal plan that gets 50% of the debt out of the system and stops the borrowing. (If we carry on they way we are going we'll be in debt to the tune of £2000+ Billion by 2020.) So if we needed to get rid of £500 Billion debt and avoid the added £1B we need to cut back by about £160 Billion a year on current spend. So next year we still can't avoid cuts in the order of 25% and stay there for 10 years! We'd still be borrowing in the first few years but it would have become manageable and we'd be back to £500B national debt by 2020. Of course you could believe you can do it with cutting 10% waste, +3% Tax increase and a commercial growth running at something like +8% a year (bigger than China). Or you could believe in sticking your head in the sand and waiting. Or you could come up with what most politicians say and come out with a plan that will get you deeper and deeper into forthcoming bankruptcy.

So do you believe it's that bad? Do you think a 1% cut here or there will do it? Have I got it all wrong - where are my numbers wrong guys?

cyru

I know this makes me a simpleton but Chris what is this collective £1 trillion debt?

As an individual I've never got into debt and never borrow either, so how is this "we are in £1000 billion debt" relate to me? Basically I'm asking where does this debt mainly stem from, i.e businesses, collective individuals [personal debt], the Govt, etc...

Also who is/are the Debtors of this trillion pound sum? Again I apologise for my lack of knowledge, but I'm assuming it's places abroad because if it was businesses in UK or our own UK economy that'd be akin to being in debt to ourselves which makes no sense as the money is still within our borders, so effectively it hasn't been lost?

And again if it was a debt payable to other countries, so what, we'd get invaded in lieu of non repayment?!

Chuffy2

Not entirely sure why everyone wants to ask about fuel prices. I have no insider knowledge, but I think I know the answer already!

Chuffy

fat_jez

cyru wrote: »

Basically I'm asking where does this debt mainly stem from, i.e businesses, collective individuals [personal debt], the Govt, etc...

Govt borrowing to run the country basically. So running the NHS, Education, Armed Forces, etc. As to who is liable, presumably the country as a whole.

ChrisDowning

cyru wrote: »

I know this makes me a simpleton but Chris what is this collective £1 trillion debt?

As an individual I've never got into debt and never borrow either, so how is this "we are in £1000 billion debt" relate to me? Basically I'm asking where does this debt mainly stem from, i.e businesses, collective individuals [personal debt], the Govt, etc...

Also who is/are the Debtors of this trillion pound sum? Again I apologise for my lack of knowledge, but I'm assuming it's places abroad because if it was businesses in UK or our own UK economy that'd be akin to being in debt to ourselves which makes no sense as the money is still within our borders, so effectively it hasn't been lost?

And again if it was a debt payable to other countries, so what, we'd get invaded in lieu of non repayment?!

OK - it's basically what the Government have run up in loans from the World, to pay for things like the NHS, Education, Defense, etc. This has all cost more than we've had coming in in Taxes; £500 billion in and £670 billion being spent. So this year we are borrowing £170 billion to cover the over spend. We've built up to that level over 10 years and now the overspend total is approaching £1000 billion (nearer to £870 billion actually, but it will soon be a trillion - nice round number).

So if we were a familiy on one of those TV shows the expert would have us cutting up the cards and stop borrowing more than we earned and secondly start to pay off the big total loan. If we did that for the British Economy we'd cut the overspend (£170 billion) and start to pay back the big loan (so we can stop paying £28 billion in interest because there is a danger of interest rates going up and that figure getting much much bigger). So, say we took £100 billion out, so we paid back 10% of the big loan, and stopped borrowing the £170 billion, we'd be cutting our spending by £270 billion. That would be £270B off the current £670 billion spend.

But 270 off 670 is a big big cut back. 40%!! Yikes!!

But nobody wants to have this discussion running up to an election. If we were that family on TV and the expert suggested we cut back by 1%, or we could get out of our debt problem by cutting whats in the waste bin, we'd think it laughable. Getting back into manageable debt is going to be painful. For years? Maybe for for 10 years - like the 10 years it took to get into this mess.

Our collective debt - if you mean personal debt on houses, bank overdrafts, laons and credit cards - runs at something like £1400 Billion. Great isn't it? Britain owes £1.4 Trillion personally and the Government owes nearly another £900 Billion. See if you can get a politician to talk realistically about this.

Paul_Herring

ChrisDowning wrote: »

So this year we are borrowing £170 billion to cover the over spend. We've built up to that level over 10 years and now the overspend total is approaching £1000 billion (nearer to £870 billion actually, but it will soon be a trillion - nice round number).

So, going back to my comment earlier about the vast coverage of the NI 1% increase? It's worth 6bn per year.

The MSM, and the politicians, aren't interested in discussing anything worthwhile with a view to reducing this deficit until May 7th at the earliest.

Llanjen

I agree with Chuffy above, petrol prices are high because vehicles do a lot of harm to the environment and peoples' lives and require a lot of taxes to keep the roads in shape. I want the new government to finally do something about the prices of public transport. This will be a wasted opportunity if you simply ask them this easy question.

I clicked A by the way. In general though I want the prime minister to tell me why Britain is such a rip-off in all areas and what he or the others will do to change that. Is it just me who gets so fed up they feel like dropping out of society sometimes?! All this jumping through hoops we have to do just to not get robbed! Why do you get penalised for being spontaneous? Eg if i want to visit my best friend by train it'll cost me £40 on the day or £18 if I booked weeks ahead (and remembered to ask for two singles for God's sake!) Can they do anything to keep prices like this down, or for example the price of a refreshment stop at a service station. Are they just going to let greedy private companies squeeze us dry as usual after the election?

Kilwinning_Bluenose

Petrol prices are a total disgrace and must come down to allow the average person to travel to work and not have to pay through the nose for it. The Earth's climate is cyclical. How did the Ice Age end? People leaving tv's on stand-by or leaving their engine running?

Benefits are crippling this country. It's time to cut them and make working actually worthwhile. People with disabillities should be given more help though. Having 7 kids should not entitle you to £42k a year (to use a story I heard about recently).

Prisons should be made places of punishment and as little as possible spent on the scum inside them. Easy money saved.

MP's should pay for things like we have to and be exempt from legal aid.

The size of the public sector needs to be cut and the massive amounts of waste stopped.

Immigration must be slashed.

My question is simple, which one of you is going to get a grip and start making the decisions that simply must be made? You cannot ignore these issues forever. This country is sinking fast and unless something is done about it, we'll have to bail out very soon.