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

Another good report - more recent, written in 2019

But the truth is fairly obvious. Austerity has failed. Recent estimates from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) - using numbers produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) – confirm this (Stirling, 2019).

They find that the cumulative effect of austerity has been to shrink the economy by £100bn today compared to what it would have been without the cuts: that is worth around £3,600 per family in 2019/20 alone.

And, then there is the staggering social cost of the cuts. Crime is up. Life expectancy has stopped rising but inequalities are growing again. Over a million people a year are now using foodbanks. Homelessness has more than doubled. And poverty has started to rise once again: one-in-three children and around one in five pensioners have now dropped below the poverty line (DWP, 2019).

In the deluge of statistics, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that these are real people, families and communities, who rely on government support to get by, and who have been devastated by austerity.

https://www.ippr.org/articles/austerity-there-is-an-alternative-and-the-uk-can-afford-to-deliver-it

My DD pays in 11% and £90 per month back in student loan, all the time stressed, trying to see patients who present with ever more complex issues, that should be treated in the Hospital but they don't have capacity.

So lets hit these people again shall we?

Meanwhile Sunak gets away with paying 20% tax and no NI, on last years £1.8m investment income from the USA, he can't even be bothered to invest in the UK.

I think a lot of money is wasted on admin, procurement and dodgy government contracts. For example, during covid lots of money was wasted on contracts going to mates of the cabinet & money wasted on dodgy PPE.

I'd look at streamlining processes and getting the best value for public money. Lots of cash is wasted on inefficient procurement processes so each depth including the NHS should tighten up these processes.

I'd withdraw government depts from Stonewall DEI index membership & ban public funds being used on activist groups.

So at what age do you think the state should sanction euthanasia?
Should a sick elderly person have the right to want to live?

Or do you envision a future where anyone considered a drain on society canbe put down like a dog, for the common good?

Better to tax the rich, make sure multinational companies pay tax properly and claw back the wasted money given to Ms Mone and the like during covid.

Personally, I'd make ALL benefits means tested. Not at a stupidly low level like WFA based on pension credit. I'd base it on income of £100k or more, so aligned with loss of personal allowance and loss of free childcare for workers. But extend it to disability payments, state pensions, bus passes, prescriptions, etc. etc.

No one with an income over £100k needs any state benefits and the number of people affected will be pretty small, so the administration burden won't be too great. After all, they're managing to administer the £100k threshold for workers to lose free childcare benefit, so it can be extended to everyone to include all benefits.

That could save a few billion, but won't hit the people on lower incomes! An easy saving!

Meanwhile Sunak gets away with paying 20% tax and no NI, on last years £1.8m investment income from the USA, he can't even be bothered to invest in the UK.

Do you have a pension? If so you’re most likely also investing in the US which is no surprise - its economy has been growing while ours has been curtailed since Brexit.

Anyhow the rules actually say you pay tax in its country of origin as the primary location if there is a treaty, which there is.

I'd also force HMRC to be more proactive with tax evasion in the black economy, i.e. "cash in hand" jobs, sale of duty free booze and fags, money laundering via turkish barbers, nail bars, hand car washes, american sweet shops, etc., small businesses not putting all sales through their books, people not putting their staff through the payroll thus evading income tax, NIC etc and also staff probably wrongly claiming benefits due to not declaring all their income!

According to HMRC, black economy tax evasion amounts to tens of billions per year.

• Cur MPs' expenses. I don't see the logic of expecting pensioners to do without the winter fuel payment while MPs get subsided housing, food, drinks, transports and utility bills while getting a fairly large salary.

• Reduce overseas aid. We can't afford this right now when people in this country are reduced to using food banks and can't stay warm in the winter and when we have a homelessness crisis.

• Have a good look at the Civil service and how much money is wasted by government departments and start a cull of all the overpaid 'consultants' and trim the staff.

• Increase tax on alcohol, tobacco and junk food. Puts a massive strain on the NHS.

• Close tax loopholes.

While I completely agree with MP's expenses, it'll never happen as nobody can be expected to pay to do their job. They're away from home a lot and need to be able to get transport, accomodation etc without being out of pocket. Yes they can afford it from their own pocket but in the majority of other sectors it wouldn't be seen as fair to have to pay to do your own job.

Definitely close tax loopholes

I don’t think it’s an age thing it’s an illness/ quality of life thing.

MPs housing should be like student halls

We'd like them all down here in Devonport, please. We earn a % of our micro-business's turnover from maintaining them so they are safe to go to sea. For sure I'd rather it was spent employing people in Plymouth rather than SW Scotland.

I'd want to review the necessary of consultants in every area of Government. My local borough paid a social media influencer, a mate of one of the staff, over £100k for a social media campaign which was effectively just posting a bunch of stuff on FB. It was even featured in Private Eye....

Would you charge everyone? The elderly, children, those on benefits? Or would the usual groups be excluded and the poor sods in the middle penalised yet again?
Most of my non attenders are the over 65's. They don't even want to pay for paracetamol.

I'd charge everyone because people can cancel their appointments instead of missing them and speeding is definitely preventable.

Nail on the head. Charging is fine as long as it's EVERYONE, not exceptions. The moment you exempt the young, the old and the disabled, it just becomes yet another tax on workers. And I'd bet the statistics show it's not "the workers" who make up the majority of no-shows and wasted appointments.

All the pointless eye wateringly expensive management consultancy across all gov departments.

Old people.
Being brutal about it, we need to invest in young people's training to ensure workers of the future not spend money on people who no longer work.

I would definitely include the OAPs in the sanction group for non-attendances, unless they were dead or already hospitalised. And children and disabled: you should not accept an appointment you can't keep.

@TeamPolin that's horrendous. My borough flew a group of social workers to a Caribbean island to 'observe' social work practices and collaborate with their peers. This borough's children services also failed their last but one Ofsted/CQC inspection.

This borough is also trimming the social care budget and it's support to SEND children because they "don't have any money".

I'd cut the number of Lords by half. Cut their daily allowance. Stop giving them free lunches with wine. Stop MP's getting their fuel bills being paid by tax payer in their second homes. I'd stop asylum seekers being given money for cigarettes. Spain pays their refugees less than half of what UK pays theirs.

I'd also put the benefits cap on all people claiming benefits not excluding some groups from the cap as the government does now.

Also people should pay for their own food in the hospital.