Where would you LIKE to see cuts made?

My DD was too early for CTC anyway - can't say the lack of it has bothered us at all.
Increase taxes; how about increasing sales tax on truly luxury goods (except it'd be a beaurocratic nightmare to decide what was what when it took years to sort out the status of a Jaffa cake).

Public sector pensions certainly need addressing - maybe index to private sector pensions, that would be fair wouldn't it?

I would apply the same logic to my situation. When I get infirm take it all to pay for my care. I came in naked with nothing, wtf shouldn't I go out the same way.

And before I get there tax me more.

The benefits of living where i live are huge - everything's immaculate, there are dozens of flower beds at the end of my road with thousands of flowers in. My streets clean, there is very low crime and the NHS is efficient. DD is in a very good school. DH has a well paid public sector job. Perhaps instead of people whining about how bad things are we should celebrate how lucky we are.

at devilwearsprimark! 18 months? that's attrocious. for what????

cuts:
trident
raise income tax (for all but low-income earners)
i like some of the ideas here, too.

AFAIK not all 6th formers get EMA. it's means tested.

Lurie - totally agree. That generation has left an enormous burden and they need to accept a big cut in pension and entitlements. They did not pay enough tax and NI while in work to pay for what they get now as pensioners. We simply cannot afford public sector largesse like that. The private sector increasingly is shedding pensions so should the public sector. Greece is being forced into cutting public sector benefits - we will have to do the same

House prices have to fall too and the only way that will happen is if older people are forced to sell family sized houses they are living in and accumulating tax free gains on. They wil have to live off the money that will be released.

Sorry to be harsh but I would apply the same logic to my parents' situation.

ctf yes - I never bothered to set them up for the DC and then got a letter telling me where they had put it for me.....

Cut public service pensions. Why should they be cosseted by private sector workers, who have lost their own pensions. Double whammy.

I'd cut the child trust fund.

If you think about it, the government writes a £250 cheque for every new baby and then we as parents, hand it over to the bank of our choice for 18 years, where none of us, parents, children or the government can touch it.

I'd rather they spent it on cancer drugs or used it to fund extra teachers.

Trident

Military - especially in recruitment. There has been an army shop in my local high street for years. Rent there is astronomically high.

Child Benefit - it should be means tested. My friends with a joint income of £340'000 claim it and add it to their 'education fund'.

Prisons - so many people are 'put away' , close supervision and rehabilitation would make more sense. A woman with learning difficulties in my area was recently sentences to 18 months for council tax evasion. A bill of £2000 ish as opposed to how much to keep her in prison?

It's not about equality Rosieeo - the gap between rich and poor in this country is ENORMOUS - the largest it has ever been.

Our children will not be able to afford a house - hell, many mumsnetters can't afford a house.

I've said it before so sorry for being boring - dh's grandad - a very minor civil servant bought new house in Surrey in 1953 - raised 4 children in it, wife didn't work. House was worth £750,000 when he sold it. Huge undeserved wealth from very minor 8-4 job, retired at 55, 20 years of civil service pension plus state pension. 3 cruises a year.

This should never have happened in society - it's ludicrous.

We will literally be paying for that legacy for generations - our kids are fucked.

I want to protect front line services but frankly the public sector worker has to share the pain that the private sector worker has already suffered in terms of job losses and wage cuts.

A straight 10% pay cut for all public sector workers with wages above £30k per annum. I want all public sector pensions cut to a maximum of £50k per annum.

I want all civil servants in the top 10% of the pay scale made redundant. I want 1/3 of all Govt and local Govt departments shut.

I want to stop sending money to the EU.

I wonder if you recieved say £10 a month ctc.. That you'd save more purely on bloody admin for it let alone the tenner.. I'm including admin in my head lol

YY. I don't understand EMA. Give teenagers 30 quid a week to stay on at sixthform because education is A Good Thing. But if they want to go on to University, land them with a 30K debt.. Where's the logic in that?

Also I would cut Trident but freely admit I know very little about international affairs. Personally I would also set a date for the end of any professional army in this country but I can whistle for that one!

I would introduce 5% VAT on second hand goods and a tax on kerosene.

I would love to see a scheme where the more unpaid overtime you do, the more heavily you are taxed. Get the job done and GO HOME fgs. But I can imagine that one might not work...

Also dont the government fund these life skill centre's (im currently doing a computer course) and do sixth formers get paid to stay on at school £30 per week???? I never got paid i had to get a saturday job.

Change people's mindset about money.

1. Increase a sense of personal responsibility. Make it usual to pay for your own care towards the end of your life - instead of being concerned with passing it on/hoarding it.

1. Change the publics mindset about 'retirement' - people start work much later at 22-25 (after Uni)and only want to work til 55-60. So people think its ok to only work for 30 years and then be a drain on the state/draw a pension for the last 10-30 years

raise retirement to 65 and means test the state pension.

Why is it ok to have a young person on £45 job seekers allowance but an elderly person 'lives in poverty' on £90?

Lower limits for ctc.. Or just have wtc .. IMO something is wrong when huge companies pay workers low wages.. Which then get topped up by government.. And said large companies make billions profit each year... So I'd take a close look at that.. Withou effecting small companies.

Hospital carpark money would have to go to the hospital .. Not a private company..

Child trust funds would go

personally I'd leave inheritance alone.. What is left to pass on has already had tax paid on it at the time... You can't then take it away.. I would leave country if this happened..

I think the NHS should cut Choose and Book, sad though I am to say it as I still think it's quite a good idea, and being able to email the doctors' letters with all the test results and images attached securely with zero effort is excellent - it would be nice to keep that IMO. However, actually booking patients into the clinic via a call centre is v slow IME and too often it's possible to book people into the wrong clinic or into the right clinic but without all the ancillary appointments they need to make it work. Those spurious choice exercises in a situation where you really have very little choice anyway are just the sorts of things that Labour should work towards shedding. Luckily it's so associated with Labour that the Tories should have no trouble getting rid of it.

I also think that every NHS trust should whitelist vital internet sites and allow access to those only from all PCs. Watch NHS admin productivity soar.

Increase pensionable age for most public sector workers to 65.