To ask what you would cut if you were David Cameron?

[Seeingthebeautyineveryminute]

Can't for the life of me see how £12 billion savings are going to be made. I fear it will be cuts to already diminished support and services (as opposed to increased taxation). If you were David Cameron what would you do?

If we made Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, Amazon, Tesco, Asda etc pay a living wage, in one fell swoop the country would be back in the black as millions of employees would not need to be claiming top up benefits.

I'd limit child benefit to the first two kids only. I would stop tax credits for families with a sahp once all children are school aged. Means test the winter fuel allowance for pensioners and ensure absent parents pay for their kids direct from their wages then reduce tax credits accordingly for the resident parent depending how much is gained from the nrp. I don't see why the state should pay for kids when they have 2 parents often both working and able to pay for their kids themselves but choose not to.

NHS Cut would be in order of importance

• middle management.
• non-essential medical care, e.g., obesity treatments and IVF.
• treatment of overseas patients unless critical.

OTOH - The NHS should always be able to treat patients in a critical condition and the seriously ill for no charge and keep GP services in tact.

Cut foreign aid.

Councils and other services - the pay packets would reflect those that the rest of the country are on, instead of an inflated rate so they can "keep talent".

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this.

I'd cut down on the Botox and fillers if I was him.

IVF is not non-essential. Infertility is a health problem not caused by anything the person has done. You may as well say cut maternity care. Getting pregnant naturally is non-essential after all.

How bloody ridiculous and narrow minded.

I would rather people had IVF on the NHS than non essential boob jobs

Mashtag 40% income tax affects anyone earning over £42,385. A lot of these people aren't particularly wealthy (especially if they happen to live somewhere with high housing costs).

I'd agree that IVF provision should be protected, I think one of the problems with cutting treatments for obesity or addictions is that untreated these cost the NHS and society at large more in the long run. Hmm I'm coming up with a lot of reasons why I wouldn't cut things but struggling to know what to cut, I'm glad I'm not David Cameron.

For the moment, l stay at home and we claim tax credits. You know why? Because employers give parents such a hard time, if their children are ill. My husband can't just take time off, so it falls to me.
All my children are in school.
Childcare would cost the government more anyway.
So stick that in your pipes and smoke it!

I would raise the minimum wage to living wage levels and decrease business taxes to pay for it. This would remove the need for tax credits and catch all the tax-dodging companies who wouldn't benefit (or have close to zero-cost) but would have the increased cost.
Place a proper cap on housing benefit in the private sector at realistic levels, as it stands private landlords get far too much housing benefit, I'd get no help to keep a roof over my head as I'm an owner-occupier.
Obviously remove winter fuel allowance for those no longer resident in UK and means test for those who are.
Proper streamlining of the NHS and public services. We've just lost our admin, so now we have people earning 35+k a year doing paperwork, this is not efficient.
Improve signposting so put responsibility on patients to use the most suitable service, my gp has sensibly allowed over the phone consultations in some cases, which means I don't have to wait for a double app to get me and my baby treated for thrush for example.
Persue those that avoid tax and ensure that those at the top actually paid properly.
Introduce a 'hostel' type arrangement for MPs so that those who need to stay in the capital have accomadation at a reasonable rate, a bit like student halls.

Oh, so obviously l'd make employers pay a living wage.
Then, we could do without 'handouts'

Heating in hospitals except wards where people are very ill and in public buildings generally.

Community wardens for quiet rural country towns where nothing ever happens anyway.

Public bodies having training in fancy hotels with lunch and and snacks and bottled water instead of in rentable halls with bring your own lunch.

I am all for a living wage but as a small business owner, how the dickens are we to afford to pay it? Margins are already crazy tight at the moment. Put up our prices? Customers would go elsewhere.

Tax credits completely gone but I would raise the minimum wage to £7.50 an hour to counteract it (make business pay)

Child benefit for any child born nine months from the day of the budget = 0

Child benefit for any child not living in the UK = 0 (via the EU renegotiations)

I would end the ridiculous housing benefits scandal (i.e. millions going to landlords demanding ridiculous rents for mouldy rat infested hovels). I would also have a new york style imposed rent control. It would possibly cause the London house market to crash but as most of the properties are now owned by millionaire non dom investors, its not necessarily a bad thing.

OP, we heard the same over the minimum wage. How did you afford that in the end?

I see on some graphic I just googled that child benefit costs 12 Billion. Coincidence?

I'd start by cutting that, except for those claiming Universal Credit.

Oh, And I would stop the culture of be off sick but still get paid that exists in public bodies and bring them into line with the private sector where this just doesn't happen. It's not fair and needs to be stopped.

Cut defends spending to the minimum. No need for any overseas operations at all. We are not the police of the world.

Abolish the royal family and seize their unearned assets. Council houses will do. They are good enough for the rest of us!

Further to my second point I would open up all royal residences and all sections thereof as year round tourist attractions.

Cut MP salaries. Average wage will do. Let them see how the other half live before they start making decisions.

Abolish the charitable status of private schools.

Introduce a section of the tax office solely to monitor MP expenses.

100% inheritance tax. No need for your loved ones to have money they haven't earned.

Ensure that all businesses that operate in the UK pay tax here rather than elsewhere.

Abolish zero hours contracts.

Introduce a minimum wage of over £9 per hour but remove the London only living wage.

Defence* spending. Ahem...

Boris Johnson's hair.

Beat me to it bluetube :-)

Really how do you suggest people pay their rent/mortgages if they're long term sick? Not all private sector companies don't pay sick leave btw.

I would pay MPs a higher wage but get rid of their ability to claim for things that "ordinary" people have to pay for themselves.

Given that you asked about what you would get rid of (rather than how else you would try to raise money), I would get rid of free school dinners for all KS1 children (the lib dem policy), other than for those who are of course otherwise entitled. What a ridiculous waste of money.

I would ensure that child benefit is not going abroad.

I would reconsider the heating payment and other benefits for wealthy pensioners.

Forthwith, I would not pay out child benefit for after children born from two pregnancies to any parent (mother or father, multiple births allowed). This would of course require a reasonable notice period.

I would revisit who is entitled to free prescriptions.