What Goverment spending would you cut? poll discussion

photodudeuk

NorthWalesGraham wrote: »

I am a benefit fraud investigator for the past 12 years and from my experience I can state that fraud within the benefit system is rampant . . .

What every civil servant, or indeed any employee now needs to remember, is that there are, and increasingly will be, thousands of people that would be willing to do their jobs for less money. Move over, chummy.

barryd999

photodudeuk wrote: »

The starting point for all cuts must be the salaries of MPs, which should be pegged at £25,000 for 10 years. However, all necessary expenses (on a fixed scale) to be paid out of public funds. Problem is, they would never pass such legislation. Hopefully the coming civil unrest will sweep them all into the dustbin of history.

If you think our MP's are bad now, wait until you start paying them just £25K and then see what sort of people end up running the country. Its a demanding job with long hours and flipping hard work. What do they get for it now, about £60k. I wouldnt do it for that much let alone £25K!

Im sick of this witch hunt about MPs, their expenses etc. People just cant stand to see anyone getting something they havent got.

The gambling tax is a good idea and should definately be applied to the billions made on hedge funds and currency betting which is often the source of currency and market fluctuation anyway.

Paddy001

Firstly I'd like to bring back our troops from abroad and consider using them just as consultant forces paid for by the governments involved. This would in turn cut the arms budget and better use made of our forces whilst they are in barracks. Supplementary peace officers perhaps?

Something which has always puzzled me is the huge amount of waste of materials within the NHS. I've spent a considerable amount of time in hospital and wonder why the old disciplines have gone. Matron usually kept a tight rein on her staff. Why do we need so many more admin staff to replace the person who knew just what what was going on?

Some will explain that the vast hospitals need more 'local' monitoring of staff but why were the small hosptals closed down in the first place?
Agency nurses are paid to supplement the missing staff off sick due to stress/overwork and are paid at much higher rates. Does this make sense?:(

All young people are entitled to an education depending on their aspirations and needs. Far too many are electing to go to 'Uni' and spending much of the time socialising. Far be it for me to condemn student fun, but why have we have so many highly educated ex-uni students signing on the dole? Do we really need to have a degree to work on a checkout?
I'm only making suggestions which I hope no one will take offence at but perhaps it might make 'someone' think!!!:rotfl:

myjamfactory

Do we really need Trident?
Get rid & save £100 billion over time.
The UK establishment believe we are a world power and need to sit on the Security Council to keep rogue states in check.
The UK is fast becoming an irrelevance in world politics and influence, why don`t we, as a nation accept this and save the money?
Our `glory` days as a world power ended in the fifties, we cannot afford to compete on the world stage with other hairy-chested administrations by keeping a ridiculous nuclear weapon.
I`d go further and drastically reduce all three forces to far smaller organisations, they exist only to protect overseas investments of the super wealthy. They are held up as wonderful British fighting forces, which they certainly are, but this is a smoke screen for their real purpose which is to protect the overseas assets of the UK super rich and little else.

[Deleted User]

As an ex local government worker who saw the light many years ago and is now very happy in the private world my answer is always value for money. I firmly believe that if many of the public bodies were properly organised and managed then all the services could be provided but at a reduced cost to the public. Councils seem to relish getting involved in things which really are not important, like my local council who every year fianance a firework display which last year apparently lost £75,000. Councils should empty the bins, light the streets, repair the roads etc and leave other non statutory matters alone. The problem is because they don't have to make a profit to stay in business they do not focus on value and all these self assessed schemes which supposedly prove that they give value for money have in my experience been complete fabrication.
We all know what its like when you ring them, hes on holiday, hes on a training course, hes on special leave (yes thats when his child is sick and he has to stay at home to look after the child, special leave doesn't come out of his annual leave....its true), hes away on a flexiday, hes at a seminar..........or I can't make a decision without referring it to my boss, a committee, a councillor etc etc etc. This all costs money, vast amounts of money. Strip away all these pointless procedures etc and theres the savings.

snooky

bjemblem wrote: »

How sad that the most popular budget to cut is Overseas Aid. We're in trouble, but we still have enough to share a little.

I agree with giving aid where it's really needed but in some cases countries are taking us for a ride.

For example, India can afford to fund a space programme which is estimated to cost around £800m. Meanwhile, the UK has provided India with over £800m in aid over the past few years. If they can afford a space programme (which is far superior to our own, incidentally - they will be launching rockets etc), surely they could use that money to help their own citizens instead of relying on other countries to do so?

Anyway my choice was Defence. Despite being from an RAF family I think in the 21st century we are a political minnow on the world stage and we only need a Defence Force like Japan have, we certainly can't afford to be getting involved in waging long campaigns around the world. I know that's hard to swallow for a country that once dominated the globe with its military might, but it's true.

fnaptagurgl

On the subject of reducing public expenditure, can anyone explain what the military objective in Afghanistan actually is?

No foreign power has ever won a war in Afghanistan and we are not going to win there either.

clary3

It is ludicrous that we give overseas aid to: China, Singapore and India - it is time to halt such gifts.
Similarly the government should stop immediately all new hirings by Councils - just read the opportunities in the Press! £70k pa is a normal salary offered for very vague posts which are totally unneccessary.
Similarly cut the advertising and free brochures we receive listing "how well your Council is doing" - "how we spend your money" most of which are glossy, expensive and never read. How big is the department which produces these? Bound to have a chief on £50k pa (plus gold pension!)
Also cut signs telling us the obvious which sprout up all over the place. These all cost loads of our money, nobody reads them anymore as there are so many. Whjat size is the department which: Thinks about them - orders them to be made - erects them - repairs them and so on. Cut the lot!

robin_banks

clary3 wrote: »

It is ludicrous that we give overseas aid to: China, Singapore and India - it is time to halt such gifts.
Similarly the government should stop immediately all new hirings by Councils - just read the opportunities in the Press! £70k pa is a normal salary offered for very vague posts which are totally unneccessary.
Similarly cut the advertising and free brochures we receive listing "how well your Council is doing" - "how we spend your money" most of which are glossy, expensive and never read. How big is the department which produces these? Bound to have a chief on £50k pa (plus gold pension!)
Also cut signs telling us the obvious which sprout up all over the place. These all cost loads of our money, nobody reads them anymore as there are so many. Whjat size is the department which: Thinks about them - orders them to be made - erects them - repairs them and so on. Cut the lot!

The argument used to be "aid brings trade".

I'm not sure if it does, maybe another poster can provide some evidence one way or t'other.

kb1_3

The most sensible thing to cut is our payment to the EU. The cost out weight benefit, our greediest MP is innocent compare to an MEP. As soon as iPad is on sale in Europe, every single one of them get one. We even pay for European Central Bank new state of the art building even we don't use Euro. The squandering goes on and on....
And I don't see why our young people have to risk their lives defending government who got the power through very dubious election. If we want security, we rather let those soldiers patrol the streets of the UK.