What Goverment spending would you cut? poll discussion

XRAT

globalds wrote: »

I voted Law and order.

I'm not entirely happy with the Police ,but can see they have a tough job and it must be a nightmare trying to get it right ..

My moan is about the legal system ...
Surely it is time to get rid of the closed shop of barristers and Crown court ....Talk about creating a system that allows you to ramp up any fees.

Secondly I would get real with legal aid ..It looks like another "little earner" for legal professionals.

Ooh yes, legal aid. How much could be saved if that boil was lanced?

XRAT

USEDTOBEABABE wrote: »

I would make all benefits means tested

The trouble with means testing is that;
If two people start out with the same, but one person chooses to spend, and the other chooses to save..., the thrifty is unfairly punished.

Butterfly_Brain

June55 wrote: »

I would cut some benefits immediately. Are you aware that we are now on 3rd generation benefit claimants. People who say that they are unable to find work and yet moan as soon as the press publish figures that foreigners are coming here to work. If there are no jobs then this would not be possible.
The amount paid is too high to encourage people to go to work.
I worked for 45 years full time and now receive a state pension of £106 per week. A lot of claimants are on £20,000.00 per year. Who is the fool?
Disability Living Allowance was introduced for disabled people which it should be but why are we paying this benefit to drug addicts and alcoholics? The only thing that happens to their money is to spend it on their addiction. This money would be better spent on rehabilitation and getting them into work.
People on this benefit can also get a new car every 3 years with free road tax, how much does this add up to? Where else in the world would this happen. We are governed by too many do gooders and too scared to challenge them because of the Human Rights Act. If these scroungers did not get this money there would be more for the people who are genuinely disabled.
In some ways I agree with overseas aid but it seems that it never gets to the people it is aimed at. There is far too much corruption and it is difficult to see how this problem could be solved.
I also think money to the NHS should be cut but not to the front line staff. A lot of managers have not proved their worth and get paid far too much. If you don't perform well why should you be rewarded?
Boy am I glad to get that off my chest.

Ahem could I just correct you on a few points.
Not all of us are scroungers.
I am disabled through no fault of my own - after working from the age of 15 and various jobs including night work picking in a warehouse when my kids were small because I couldn't get or afford childcare I had to work around my DH's hours.
I am now paying the price because both of my knees need replacing caused by walking on concrete floors for 12 hours a night for £5 an hour. Trouble is I have been told for the last three years that I am too young for replacements - if I have them now chances are that they will have to be done again in 3 to 5 years time..:o Plus other problems that I would rather not discuss. The latest is that because I have varicose exzema it could be too risky to have the operations at all - I am currently waiting to see a vascular surgeon to see if it is safe and if it isn't well I really don't know what's next.
I used to walk with sticks but am having to rely on a wheelchair more and more
I have been for jobs in my sorry state and have been turned down every time. Bearing in mind that I have C&G 3 in computer applications. One person told me that I was a health and safety risk because of my sticks (people could trip over them :mad:)

In order to get a car or car tax paid you have to have been awarded full mobility and full care allowance - I do not qualify because I get full mobility and only middle rate care.
I do not smoke or drink, my allowance is used to pay for my copious amount of drugs, my wheelchair, stair lift etc, which I need - I do not claim carers allowance either even though I need some care in baths/showers, dressing, cooking and helping me in the night.

I do agree that Alcoholics and Drug addicts should be classed in a whole different system and not be allowed DLA

oldgit74

I don't think defence should be cut, just think how the poor !!!!!!! soldiers would think about that! Definitely cut social benefits, yes including gold plated pensions in the public sector, which are not sustainable, i'm an oap but would give up some of it to help others.

oldnewhand

I voted for cuts to defence because I don't believe killing fellow humans achieves anything other than grief and debt. I'm sure others will argue that it contributes to peace, maybe we can just agree to differ rather than argue about that one! My most favoured strategy wasn't available to choose.

I was saddened that so many felt overseas aid and social protection should be cut - we do seem to be back to the "I'm alright Jack (or Margaret)" syndrome. What does need to happen is that any aid given at home or overseas should be targeted to those that need it with severe penalties for any abuse of the system. Much has been written here about benefit abuse, justifiable I'm sure, but what about the tax dodges and off shore banking of the wealthy? ALL abusers should be penalised and loop holes tightened up so that as our new prime minister says it is fair for everyone.

An idea that seems to have been buried since our new government evolved is to stop banks paying massive bonuses and maybe use any excess funds to pay back our money that helped to bail them out; I don't recall that having been done yet.

I do believe as some other contributors that education, NHS and other services could be made more streamlined without reducing the service they provide by reducing the number and salaries of the administrators who actually contribute very little to the service. This is the area where I think most revenue could be both saved and created. I would really like it if there was a maximum wage as well as a minimum wage; not a communist demotivator but maybe £15 000 minimum full time wage and £150 000 maximum, high rate income tax being used to achieve this. That shouldn't upset too many people as most folk earn nearer the lower end and only a small percentage get paid more than the maximum! it would also take alot of people out of the working benefits zone.At a personal level I do object to paying tax to fund benefits to a family member working for a well known supermarket chain; why should I as a pensioner subsidise a highly profitable business that only pays a pittance?

wildthing01

i find this really difficult and i haven't voted. the ones i consider least important in the current climate already have relatively little spent on them, and i can't see that cutting them would free up enough money to be of any use. the areas where larger savings could be made are all areas i consider really important, and to save enough money, you'd have to pretty much decimate services....

aggrieved

It has to be DEFENCE or more appropriately ATTACK. We have not defended our shores since 1945 but have wasted billions of pounds and thousands of innocent lives on gungho campaigns in foreign countries just to maintain the grossly overblown fiction that we are a world power. Bring the troops home and reduce our expenditure to the European average. Some of these contributors should get real and throw away their union jack underpants.

gliding_is_life

I work in the military and we have been forced to drastically reduce our costs by the last reduction in the size of the forces. We still have at least the same, or arguably, greater commitments. This cost reduction was most effectively achieved by using Continuous Improvement techniques, such as the Lean Methodolgy some of you may be aware of. Companies such as Tesco, Dell, Toyota and other large multinationals use this to be as competitive as possible.
I have had work experience at one of the largest NHS trusts in the country where I assisted in some Lean events to improve the trust's performance and reduce costs. Based on the considerable saving made, combined with the easier working practices which resulted, this should be compulsory for all Publicly Funded activities as the savings made in just one NHS trust in two weeks, resulted in savings which if replicated across the entire NHS would save the entire Defence Budget!

35-40% (and higher) savings are achievable using Lean. Please can we send this message to the politicians that we must stop wasting our valuable time, money and resources as we currently do. People are our greatest asset and we squander their abilities scandalously in the NHS and other Publically Funded activities.

Please discuss this with your friends.

P.S I'm still in the military and intend to continue to serve until I am too old to serve any longer, so I have no vested interest in cost reductions in the public sector other that those which we all have, namely reducing our budget defict and becoming more efficient and effective in the future.

leekhockey

I elected a government to decide on the cuts ! I did not think that they would then ask me what I wanted so that they could hide behind this at a later date.

I do not think that the average person has all the facts to make the decisions required!

georgeconnor

stop giving family allowance to millionaires and foreigners millionaires dont need it and foreigners shouldnt be entitled to it charity begins at home