What Goverment spending would you cut? poll discussion

A question about : What Goverment spending would you cut? poll discussion

Poll Started 08 June 2010:

What Goverment spending would you cut?

The Prime Minister and Chancellor have both confirmed that the country will need to face swinging cuts in public spending, with David Cameron announcing they will consult the public for ideas on where pennies and pounds could be saved.

If you were in charge, which of these areas of government spending would you think should most be cut?

A. Defence (military spending - Ј35bn)
B. Education (schools and universities - Ј32bn)
C. Environment (waste and pollution - Ј5bn)
D. Health (the NHS Ј124bn)
E. Housing Ј4bn
F. Law & Order (police and courts - Ј15bn)
G. Overseas aid (money to the developing world - Ј12bn)
H. Social Protection (state pension and benefits - Ј171 bn)
I . Transport (roads & railways - Ј11bn)

Please vote here or click 'post reply' to discuss below.

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Best answers:

• I voted for the NHS. I know it will be unpopular, but I feel that NHS managers do not contribute much, if anything at all, and I feel that they are often wasteful with resources. I think if they were reduced in number, we would see little change to the performance of the NHS and save lots of money.
  If I could have voted for number 2, I would cut child tax credits for all. Some people clearly do not need this to help with bringing up a child and lots of money every month could be saved.
  I know that these may be unpopular, but I think that some very unpopular choices need to be made.
• Streamline the Police, AND CUT THEIR OVERTIME.
• Benefits, without a doubt.
  I agree with benefits to some extent, most of us experience times in our life when we need help, but i am fed up with paying for people to sit on their backside all day complaining they can't get a job (when in fact they just cannot be bothered).
  The only people who should be entitled to benefits are severely disabled/ ill people and their carers, OAPs and people who have been made redundant (for max a year, but there should be higher payments for people with mortgages). If these were the only people the government could then give back the savings to people who work by taxing us slightly less, then everyone would have more money to spend on what they need. Everyone else who claim they just can't get a job should have to do community work in order to get there benefits, otherwise they don't get them.
  Single parents who are looking after young children and don't wish to work should have someone paying their share of that child anyway (like the absent mother/ father), which should be far stricter (DNA testing should be mandatory for people who claim it isn't there's - but if it comes back as wrong ei, mother doesn't know who the father is and just accuses a list of potential men, then that person should pay a fine to the person they accuse!). If they need their benefits topping up to feed their child then they should only get vouchers, and nothing else.
  I live in a flat which I brought 2 years ago, and the flat above me is council. I have had 3 couples living up there since I moved in the first was a mother and child, she openly told me she was claiming benefits for being a single parent when dad came and stayed round practically every night (also claiming benefits and had a council flat!). When she couldn't get the council to give her a house (she claimed the 1 bed flat was too small for her and her 2 year old - obviously couldn't just be honest and say it was too small for her, her partner and child as they would loose vital benefits) she then became pregnant again (yes with the same bloke) and then she got moved to a house. Second couple actually worked, but only stayed there for 5 months. Third couple (there now), both don't work, he has two kids already by another women and now his current g/f he lives with is pregnant, so yet another mouth to feed on benefits! Both couples which were on benefits always had the latest technology, mobiles, TV's, IPods, play stations - more than I have!!!! To top it all off, they ring up kingfisher (the leaseholder) every 5 mins with a problem and guess who has to pay half the bill if its communal….me!!!!!! Last year I had to pay Ј650, this year it was Ј450, I have not once rang them with a problem. The only bills I should have to pay is ground rent, lighting and building insurance, which on their own would only cost me a combined Ј80. It a bloody joke!!
  Ok, rant over, but you get my point. We live in a society where you work hard and do everything yourself you get nothing (oh no sorry, I am entitled to 25% off council tax as I live on my own, even though it's based on 2 adults sharing so shouldn't that mean I should get 50% discount!!??) but if you do nothing, don't work, s**t on society you get everything for free. Think I made the wrong choice somewhere!!!!
• All overseas aid. There is no reason for us to give money away until our own debts are completely resolved
  You could also argue that our taxes should not be going to foreign countries anyway. People with money to give away should be able to have control themselves over where it goes (which specific countries it goes to etc).
• NHS staff numbers have grown disproportionately against population, unpopular but required. If possible reduce staffing numbers to year 2000 figures. And resolve issue with pensions, public sector pensions are not properly funded.
• Why cut when that will just make matters worse. Just put everybodies Tax up, everybody in the country, including those on Benefits, Pensions, Incapacity, Non-DOMS - Rich and poor alike.
  That way everybody in the country can contribute and equally feel the sting. There will be less people loosing there jobs which is going to be increasing hard to replace with so many losing their jobs.
  of course the rich wouldn't be happy? Wouldn't effect the uber-rich I know because they don't pay tax anyway.
  This is gonna sting so lets see what's stinging us rather than find Cancer Wards being cut after we have been diagnoised with cancer. And don't believe the rubbish about front-line services... everything is a front line service to somebody.
  Rant over......
• I chose the NHS. It may be unpopular but if it was streamlined and wasn't so top heavy with managers managing managers the money saved could be spent on front line services. And keeping the wards clean.
• It's not that easy. I'd vote for a cut across ALL budgets for "non jobs" where they exist.
• Firstly, the benefits system needs a lot of work to weed out those spongers who have no intentions to do a days work in their lives. Single mothers who are under 18 and got pregnant just for the benefits should be forced to move back in with their own parents/grandparents.
  All luxuries should be stripped from prisons. Why should we fund the highlife for the murderers, thugs and general scum who inhabit them (I'm not saying all prisoners are the scum of the earth, but certainly a large proportion of them are).
  I'd also look at doing something to prevent this wasteful, end of the financial year splurge that all government departments have to ensure they get the same (or even better) budgets for the following year.
  Highways agency etc. Why do we need cheverons everywhere, when a single dotted white line has done us so well for years.
  I'm going to stop there or I'll be here all night
• I stared at the options for a good couple of minutes and couldn't make myself vote for any of them. Just shows what a difficult job the politicians have ahead of them.
  I'm disappointed in the large proportion wanting to cut overseas aid. Compared to the plight of many developing countries, our difficulties seem a little trivial really.
• 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. If this Government is serious about reducing the massive public sector bill which the last Government ( and previous Governments) have accumulated they must address the fraud in the welfare system. Despite what the last Government has claimed in that they had reduced the fraud in the system I and my colleagues in local authorities and the DWP would challenge this. I agree with the comments of some of the other contributors to this post and it's insulting to those hard working, taxpaying members of the public who witness day in day out benefit claimants blatantly stealing money from taxpayers. Remember it's the taxpayer who funds the public sector not the Government ! So here's what I would do:
  Abolish Child Benefit (There's Child Tax Credits which is means tested)
  Abolish Job Centres and replace them with Employment agencies run by the private sector and reward the agencies by the number of claimants they place in employment.
  Stop single parents on benefit from being given more money every time they have another child.
  Make all benefits taxable.
• I'd go for the NHS too, there's a lot of waste.
  There's one catagory missing....Ministerial cars and jollys.
• A. Defence (military spending - Ј35bn)
  Get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan, more to save lives than save money, they shouldn't be there
  B. Education (schools and universities - Ј32bn)
  Employ someone like Martin Lewis to cut waste and you could save a fair bit.
  C. Environment (waste and pollution - Ј5bn)
  Think saving massively on this would be difficult
  D. Health (the NHS Ј124bn)
  The budget should NOT be reduced, the cost of running the NHS will always increase year on year and above inflation. Look at what drugs/treatments were available when they NHS was formed, compare that to what is available now. Have a National Health Service and you can't do it on the cheap. That said waste could be reduced massively but it should be put back into frontline services to improve the health service not cut from it.
  E. Housing Ј4bn
  Don't know enough about it but the size of the budget I think big cuts would be hard
  F. Law & Order (police and courts - Ј15bn)
  Leave well alone.
  G. Overseas aid (money to the developing world - Ј12bn)
  People who can afford to and wish to donate money to overseas aid should do so with their own money, the Government should not decide this for us
  H. Social Protection (state pension and benefits - Ј171 bn)
  CUT CUT CUT
  People who genuinely cannot find work should receive help (though they should have to do community service work to receive it) and the genuinely disabled obviously need help but there are far too many people who cannot be arsed. Social protection costs as much as education, law and order and the health service combined, it beggars belief.
  I . Transport (roads & railways - Ј11bn)
  Considering the amount we pay in tax to use the roads any cuts should just be to waste.
• Exam fees are an ever growing expense for schools. The currrent fashion for modular exams means students take more and more exams at a higher and higher cost each year. Examining boards used to be universities but are now private companies. Returning to the old system of exams being set by universities and take once at the end of the course would be cheaper.