We’ll all take the hit

[Tiredofthis2022]

Hi. If we’re all going to take the hit, more cuts higher taxes. I have a few thoughts on where we might start.

First like to see the numbers in the Lords reduced significantly, we can’t afford to support this number.

I do not want to see any cuts to education, disability or carers, if they have to come I want to see change at the top first.

Any other ideas?

Previously, I was always sceptical of the benefit of having an unelected House of Lords. In particular, I am against hereditary peerages, on the basis that I do not believe that power should be inherited.

However, in recent years there have been a fair few examples of the Commons passing dreadful bills, which the Lords have then successfully challenged and made amendments to.

I still believe that power should not be inherited, but I no longer believe the House of Lords is an irrelevance. It is the only genuine check and balance we have against a parliamentary party with a large majority.

Whether the number of Lords is too high is a separate issue, but I would be careful of giving this government the ability to remove a number of them. Because we know which ones would be removed, don't we?

I don’t see them as irrelevant, I think they do a good job but it could be done with fewer of them and as all costs are to be considered I would like this to be reviewed in line with that.

@TomTraubertsBlues I hear you, a proportional decrease (specifically for those who do not speak or positively contribute to the public life of the UK).

I’m not looking for this thread to be all about this, I would like others to think of ideas of where public services can be trimmed - especially in areas where people do duplicate jobs across similar roles (CEOs in quangos).

Having worked there, I think a lot of NHS England could be mostly got rid of. On the whole, it does not add value to the healthcare system.

I'd like to see the NHS in England and Wales structured more like the NHS in Scotland, which has fewer quangos, and doesn't have the weird pretence of being a free market with so much resource wasted on the commissioning side.

Problem is everyone will want the cuts to be made to services they don't presently use.

There will be frozen budgets and cuts across the board. Everything is going to get worse and everyone will be taxed more for it. Happy days!

There needs to be a review of how efficient the nhs is in some areas.
why do they need 6 people in the room for a carpal tunnel surgery under local anaesthetic when other wards are screaming out for more staff?
why are there so many big bosses at the top who make changes but don’t actually participate? Their salaries should be capped.

stop MP expenses, they already get paid a salary. Same with house of Lords. Make it a voluntary position

Expenses for MPs need scrapping completely and they should be treated like most of the country who have to travel for work. No need to reinvent the wheel, the civil service travel policy for ordinary workers (AO level for example) would be fine.

No more bar at Westminster, no more free lunches, no more claiming for decorating. Genuine capped office expenses, none for relations or spouses and basic travel allowance only.

That would save a fortune right off the bat. We could also give them performance related pay. MPs are meant to represent their local constituents. The maximum pay they can get is only available if they consistently uphold their election manifesto promises. They should also be fined substantially with the money being donated to a food bank if they purposefully/knowingly lie in the course of their work.

Make it impossible for someone (company or individual) to make money in the UK without paying reasonable UK tax. Remove the loopholes that are exploited.

Be more like the US in that regard too, if you're a citizen then you pay tax on your earnings whether you live here or not. You'd have to obtain citizenship in another country and revoke your UK one to escape that obligation, which would also mean you can't visit the country for more than 30 days at a time and no more than 45 days in total in a rolling year.

Also immediately stop all benefits to migrants leaving the country. If you want to leave the UK to live elsewhere, you can't claim your state pension (I'll concede I don't know if this is still possible, but I know it was).

@1001Daffodils I like all your ideas!

Expenses for MPs need scrapping completely and they should be treated like most of the country who have to travel for work

But why should the MPs for Berwick upon Tweed or Truro have to bear the financial cost of travelling between their constituencies and Westminster when London MPs could cycle to work? If you want to make it fair for anyone from any background to work as an MP, rather that just those with additional incomes, rich spouses or 'supporters', then you have to level the playing field for travel, at least.

Road building.

What they will actually cut is bus services

You can't scrap MP expenses. It costs a bloody fortune to travel backa nd forth and is legitimate. You could tighten up what is allowed but every country has a system to reimburse elected representatives - either high salary or low salary + expenses.

Labour want to scrap non-dom status, I agree with that one.

You also can't not pay pension to people leaving. They paid in for all those years. It just wouldn't be fair.

Re Parliament and expenses - surely one way to reduce these, while enabling fuller participation in constituency and Westminster would be for them to re-instate some of the things they had in place during lockdown. Businesses are running meetings, conferences very well nowadays with a lot of zoom etc in the mix. Ridiculous to be physically travelling , needing accommodation away from home more than absolutely necessary. Afaik a lot of MPs wanted to keep remote working support but bloody Mogg insisted on a return to the 19th century.

I know this will be unpopular, but public sector pensions need to be looked at. Lots of public servants wants higher wages, rebalance it so that the wages are higher but pensions are lower.

The current exodus from the public sector would get even worse if the package deteriorated. Do you want even fewer nurses and teachers?

Unfortunately this is true - the way we look at transport costs in this country is totally upside down.

"But why should the MPs for Berwick upon Tweed or Truro have to bear the financial cost of travelling between their constituencies and Westminster when London MPs could cycle to work? If you want to make it fair for anyone from any background to work as an MP, rather that just those with additional incomes, rich spouses or 'supporters', then you have to level the playing field for travel, at least"

Sorry I don't know how to quote properly, but I suggest the MPs from further afield can join via video call as so many organisations are doing now to save money. It would seem to me best for MPs to spend as much time as possible in their constituencies and this can be achieved by avoiding travelling to London when a video call will suffice. (I am bitter because my MP is a career MP who doesn't even bother keeping an office in the constituency...)

Exit into where? They would be taking a massive hit to their pensions going into almost any other role/employer.

Sorry but this is bonkers. MPs need to speak to each other, to civil srvants, to charity leaders, to visiting experts. They need to be in parliament AND spend time in the constituency.

You would save virtually nothing by shutting down parliament but would ensure that people in the South get better representation than people in the North.

Beesandbirds, funny enough, as a public sector worker, I'm not prepared to be underpaid for the next 18 years until I can access my pension. I'd like to be properly paid now please.

Also my pension is not as great as you'd think, at the moment it's £6,000 a year.

I was furloughed during the pandemic an I will always be grateful for that.
I would be willing to pay a furloughed tax and pay back what was given to me.

There must be a better way than constantly travelling up and down the country, The people in the North still lose out just because their MPs spend more time in transit. Heads of State manage to liaise between different countries without running backwards and forwards between countries all the time. (I still don't understand why the speaking to MP's, civil servants, etc etc needs to be Face to Face rather than virtual). Perhaps we need parliament in a more central location 🤔Would that work out cheaper and more time efficent??

The MP for Shetland would be bankrupt. The British Isles is not just England.

Most of MPs expenses go on running their offices. E.g. staff, stationery, a constituency office. You think they should fund this out of their £80k salary?

People are so bloody dim.

Cut subsidised restaurants and bars in the HoP as first. Review lifetime payment of ministerial salaries.
Reduce expenses for MPs. Most public secthave maximum £125 per night for accommodation in London.
Get rid of ridiculous ideas for new yacht and two ministerial planes.