'If you were chancellor, what'd you cut?' poll discussion

ipod_killed_the_musicshop

What an incomplete poll.

Where's the bankers bonuses, the tax on banks, Lord Ashcroft and the rest having to pay tax? No tax cut for the richest 300 estates? Regardless of whether the Lib Dems are there to stop you or not? The NI contributions from employers?

What a biased poll.

Gareth_Lazelle

ipod_killed_the_musicshop wrote: »

What an incomplete poll.

Where's the bankers bonuses, the tax on banks, Lord Ashcroft and the rest having to pay tax? No tax cut for the richest 300 estates?

The poll was about cuts in expenditure.

Which of your suggestions are cuts?

I am in total agreement that all of the problems you raise should be addressed, but the poll as written made perfect sense to me,

Enterprise_1701C

I cannot quantify this, but I would turn prisons back into prisons rather than holiday camps. Halve the sentences and double the hardship. Only TV would be 1 hour of the news channel each day, all prisoners would work for their board and lodging, things like Xboxes and the suchlike would not be allowed in prison, no snooker tables or gyms, compulsory education in whatever basic abilities are missing, and there would be no luxuries in cells. Most of all it would be pure hardship and no-one would ever want to return.

ipod_killed_the_musicshop

Gareth_Lazelle wrote: »

The poll was about cuts in expenditure.

Which of your suggestions are cuts?

I am in total agreement that all of the problems you raise should be addressed, but the poll as written made perfect sense to me,

Expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence.

It's an attempt to make us feel that something on that list HAS to be cut.

bsuije

I know what it's like to have little money but it's not only the benefit claimers that suffer! I would describe myself as middle class and I have to say that I've never felt like we've got any money! But then on the bus, I see a 'mildly' disabled person (I mean that she could interact normally and could be doing some job) getting on at the stop of a big shopping place, with three or four bags in the middle of a weekday and then brag on about her new touch-screen computer which, '...wasn't that expensive - around £600.' What!!!

Although the NHS is 'ringfenced', I would love to see some revamp there! So much money goes into it but the quality of care I have received so far has been appalling!! Seriously, I have to tell the doctor what the next course of action should be?!?! And (good) dental care isn't even included - your teeth have to be falling out before you can get anything advanced done on the NHS!

I totally agree with the prisons being less like 'hotels'!

And the foreign aid...well, are we really seeing results? I think China has probably achieved more through trade and business with Africa, than any foreign aid...

But I really wouldn't like the Chancellor's job! It's such a careful balancing act and whatever happens, someone won't be happy... At least we're not all out striking on the streets - the clever French!

WhitmoreReans

I'd like to see my government have the guts to cut the UK's contributions to the EU budget. In a time of austerity and cutbacks at home, they want us to actually increase our contributions. I think it's about time we had an impartial cost/benefit analysis of our membership of this dubious club.

haddock22

i dont think the idea of building more prisons is a good one as i believe it costs over 40k to keep each prisoner in there for a year.Lets have more community sentences which have about the same rate of reoffending as people leaving prisons

marleyboy

The man's wedding tackle sat to my left.

Gareth_Lazelle

ipod_killed_the_musicshop wrote: »

Expressed in dollars and cents, pounds, shillings and pence.

It's an attempt to make us feel that something on that list HAS to be cut.

If that is how you feel, then the correct box to select was "nothing" - already part of the poll,

I suspect many folks believe otherwise, and the 5% or so voters selecting nothing would seem to back that up,

harz99

ipod_killed_the_musicshop wrote: »

What an incomplete poll.

Where's the bankers bonuses, the tax on banks, Lord Ashcroft and the rest having to pay tax? No tax cut for the richest 300 estates? Regardless of whether the Lib Dems are there to stop you or not? The NI contributions from employers?

What a biased poll.

Indeed; and where are the Scottish and Welsh Governments which both waste money in duplicating what the UK Government already does - not one of TB's best ideas!