What Government expenditure would you cut do you think?

[Wafflefudge]

Having seen quite a few posts recently which seem to be focused on disability spending being unaffordable and needing to be cut it has prompted me to think about what could actually be cut without causing issues/ knock ons that would be more costly long term.
I think perhaps for people who aren't disabled or with disabled children they see this as an easy cut. But we can of course all think of cuts that wouldn't directly or immediately affect us.
I personally dont think any cuts are particularly easy or straightforward though.
Off the top of my head I'd maybe cut libraries as they've put such short hours in place that they are barely useable anyway. Or perhaps maximise making money from them. But recognise this would be a drop in the ocean of public expenditure.
Id be interested in others opinions on where cuts might work. I'm sure answers will vary considerably depending on personal circumstances

Not a cut, but I would drastically increase the fines for using a mobile phone whilst driving to be eye watering, £5000 at least and your licence is suspended until the fine is paid.

I’m not sure about that. I’ve seen people go to extraordinary lengths and run up huge vet bills, going into debt, to keep their pets alive.

It's hard actually. I can't go on here and say schools/childcare. They are really really important. Though I don't and won't benefit from them.

But you do benefit from schools - do you like having an educated population?

Agree with this. DH earns a decent salary, already gets a monthly injection for his chronic health condition which costs the NHS 1k per month. He is extremely grateful for this and it enables him to keep working, not claim any benefits etc. Now he has turned 60 he gets all his prescriptions free as well which seems ludicrous given he can easily afford the £10 a month that the pre-paid certificate costs.

When they ask are you eligible for free prescriptions, just say no! You can choose to keep paying or pay your usual £100 for the annual certificate.

Cutting libraries is a terrible idea. They offer so much beyond books - rhyme time, play groups, holiday activities, adult training courses, help with home office applications, cultural events, a warm space in the winter, ...
I'd remove tax breaks and lower business rates from charity shops. I'd also simplify the procurement and invitation to tender processes for public services. It's insane what schools pay for furniture for example because they have to stick to certain channels when buying it.

Too bloody right!
Why can't they pay the going rate like the rest of us?
Or take a packed lunch?
And why do the Lords need £361 per day just for turning up and signing in?
Ok, they are not salaried by the government, but most have other income.

Foreign aid is often used as ‘way in’ to a country. It allows governments and their wealthy friends, access to all sort of opportunities in a country. The UK would not tamper with it too much, it’s needed now more than ever post brexit, for building relationships.

I agree most public service needs a complete overhaul. The cost of employing agency workers across in departments is astonishing. If they paid employed staff a fraction of that, it would benefit everyone in the long term as you would be able to recruit and maintain more staff. This alone would save the public purse a lot of money.

Overall though, a more common sense approach would be helpful. From benefits to transport services, everything just lacks common sense and in turn, costs a lot more

There is a film called Dave where the US president is in a coma and they get a look a like in to replace him. He goes through the budget with his brother (I think) and applies common sense. I'd like to see this happen.

I'd cut all celebratory events at local level. For our LA I'd start with Christmas and Eid lights and any other religious celebration. The local church/ mosque can pay if they want them.

I'd cut catered lunches in the town hall or la offices especially for staff training.

I'd cut any diversity or inclusion plans that cost to implement across all public funded bodies.

I'd stop LA'S from engaging solicitors and barristers against parents at send tribunals or employing their own in house.

Anyone found driving without a license should have the car taken and sold (unless stolen).

Heavier taxes on second homes.

Stop funding the Royal family but allow them to set up as a business so they could continue to aid the economy and fund themselves but strictly without government funding.

Reverse the NI cut.

Cut all non medically essential treatments on the NHS. No plastic surgery, IVF, trans hormones/ operations.

Any organised marches/ protests that are recurring should fund their own policing eg in situations like the Palistinian marches in London.

Allow some of the universities to go bust and change them to technical schools. Not every young person needs a degree which many will never pay back.

Also can the NHS cope without missed appointments? I've waited over 40 minutes a couple of times and for an appointment. I often wonder if doctors rely on missed appointment to be able to fit everyone else in?

Clinics are usually double booked. I can see 6 patients in my clinic but we send out appointments to 9 because so many people don't turn up. Occasionally I get 7 or 8 actually attend, and then I run late, but it almost never happens. If I only send 6 appointments I'm sat around wasting time and my over all waiting list gets too long, so I get constant grief from management.

Just googled ‘how much is the welfare state budget’
171 billion pounds? There must be something in there to claw back?

I’m not suggesting reducing legitimate support for maternity & disability payments etc just the capable Idle doing naff all.

The really annoying thing is, this is our money! I can’t get over sending money overseas, whilst we have food banks in this country. Imagine feeding someone else’s children and then not being able to feed your own family.

These MPs need a reality check. They are all too far up their own arses, they can’t see what’s happening to their own people.

Abolish the house of Lords. Smaller elected house that can't just get paid a day rate every time they turn up for free lunch.

Look at efficiency in the nhs. The amount of letters that could have been an email or text is too high. Add care units to the side of hospitals to free up beds where people no longer need hospital care, but can't go home just yet. Added bonus that people are less likely to break their hip the first night they are back in their temporarily unsuitable home and need more medical treatment.

Worrying about ODA or MPs expenses is totally missing the boat, this country needs 100s of billions, not 3 or 4 billion.

The infamous "black Hole" once filled, just keeps things as they are and no one can say thats a good place to be.

We need to completely reform how we deliver public services & collect taxes.
We also need economic growth and for that we need to improve productivity and find new markets for both services and goods, why Labour have ruled out closer ties with the EU is beyond me, surely he must realise the UK cannot cherry pick what it likes?

Not sure on Trident, if Trump wins in November, pulls out of Nato or at least art 5, then the UK and France might need their nukes.

Nuclear submarines. Cost £3 billion per year. Anyone who wants to keep them can pay for them and have them in their part of the UK.

My DD works in community for an out source nhs contractor, they have no staff, you can build all you like, they have no staff.

They have no staff to do the assessments for living modifications or equipment, there is no budget when they do, the money wasted (and then costed by the NHS) by these out source outfits is incredible, its mind blowing.
When do have the money, its wasted on shoddy workmanship and hyper expensive equipment charged back to the NHS, often using "delivery charges"

She has worked across 3 trusts, letters are still used because many people don't have an email, don't check the accounts they do have and let phone batteries go flat.

So many pps advocating to stop outsourcing to private companies. This isn't the saving you think it is. We are not just talking about salaries here. Public servants are also paid large amounts in pension payments, holidays, sick pay etc. The state then guarantees those pensions.

Public service is also not necessarily more efficient, because they are state funded, there is no reason for efficiency and cost saving. Which is what we see.

How about we cut the extra civil servants employed during Brexit and COVID.

Security nightmare! Better to have elected representatives scattered rather than in the same place.

Outsourcing, consultancy companies and contractors in general. Paying huge companies vast amounts to do audits when they don't know the business so it's all pointless. Paying over £60 an hour to IT contractors who dont know the business so are a waste of time. Paying over £100 for a simple delivery of something to the NHS. Millions of pounds wasted on military projects that get cancelled. Cancel the billion pound new roads.

Over regulation and all the public sector jobs and consultations that go with it.

Our country is being run, not by MPs but by lawyers and insurance companies. Nobody is willing to fail or let anyone else fail anymore. It's always someone else's fault (usually the government's).

It started in 2008 when we didn't let the banks failed, but used tax payers money to bail them out. The culture has grown from there and has become crazy since furlough.

Top of my list would be to remove the right to buy discount people get on council houses, they should be bought at market value

Wow some of these are so naive
Cutting defence in the current worldwide position potentially adding Trump to that
Abolishing the house of Lords as if they don't play a valuable role countering the Commons and independent reviews
Cutting Mp salaries as if they are all the same and we don't want to attract the best
Cutting the NHS as if we don't have an aging population with more and more complex acuity
Cutting overseas aid again...
Review them all? Yes of course, but not Slash mindlessly

And of course those who think they know everything about taxation, even though the question was about spending

If it was that easy it would have been done

This essentially.

Anything that cuts money or services to the very poorest should be no go. They are the ones that have done worst out of the last 14 years and the gap between them and the middle & higher earners has grown hugely. Military spending is already so low that we are unprepared for anything. And would be daft to cut now when there is a war in Europe. Cuttinn no f foreign aid has security risks.

Getting the asylum system moving so we are spending less on housing asylum seekers would save money. Wealth taxes, windfall taxes on oil and gas companies. Decreasing friction with the EU will help boost the economy.

in the longer term, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, cheaper better quality housing, better or more public / active transport and not concentrating all the wealth in the SE would do a lot to boost the country and save health costs. Measures to improve indoor air quality would do a fair amount too in terms or reducing disability and sick days. Which should boost the economy too. Starting with schools.

All LGBTQ+ decor on state-owned infrastructure (rainbow benches on hospital grounds, gender signs on pedestrian crossing lights etc).
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training for public sector jobs.
Housing illegal immigrants in hotels.
I think there should be a small charge for missed NHS appointments - just enough to act as a deterrant.

Unpopular opinion.

Stop sending foreign aid to countries that have their own space programme, like going to the moon.

India, I’m looking at you. Massive areas of poverty, & millions without access to education, clean water, employment, healthcare, but in 2022 you spent $1.66 billion on flinging a tin can onto the moon.

Between 2016 and 2021, the UK sent around £2.3 billion in financial aid to India. That’s a back of an envelope calculation of around $3.41 billion in 5 years, and if India had reallocated their space budget to human aid across the country in the same period, that would’ve been around $8.3 billion.

Of course, this is a gross simplification, and I understand the complexity of financial aid and the aims and allocation of the aid budget that India receives from the UK, and likewise with India’s aims and objectives for space exploration, but on the surface it does appear like a bloody expensive folly for a few scoops of Moon dust.