Where would you LIKE to see cuts made?

[Rosieeo]

I recognise that people are going to vote for certain parties because if another party gets in they might lose some benefit/possibly jobs etc. Or because they have a deep-seated hatred of one side, for whatever reason.

But (and you can correct me, I know very little about politics) the country is in debt and some cuts have to be made, regardless of who makes them.

So where would you be prepared to see cuts being made?

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?

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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.....

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.

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.

Laurie I understand there is a large gap and that many are unable to afford a house (although that's a relatively new thing isn't it? I know when my parents bought their first home back in the 70's, they were amongst the first in this area, and my grandparents were in council housing all their lives. And, as many people say, look at the continent, fewer people own their own home).

Why do you think your grandfather's wealth is undeserved? He was in the right place at the right time. I don't begrudge money to those who have worked hard or were lucky, although I am often a little

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.

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?

Rosie - he didn't work hard, he had an easy job. Certainly not as hard as an HCA or a cleaner - and he was lucky becuase society (which we can change) was set up to benefit him.

We can now change it to benefit more people. The baby boomers didn't but we can.

"DH has a well paid public sector job"

What do you do for a living LFC?

I'd like to see cuts for

Trident
Child benefit if you earn a joint income of 100K+
CTF
No ID cards
Contactpoint
Funding to faith schools

Those are the main ones, but tbh I've plenty more I could rant on about

picc

worse is

A close family friend, turning left at a junction on a country lane. Distracted as her DD had thrown up in her car seat, sadly hit a boy on a motorbike and he died.

It was found he had no license and was just 15. Horribly sad and it took 8 months of court cases for her to be sentenced to 5 years for reckless driving.

So her children are in care as her exH wasn't fit to take them (violent)...

and surely the pain of what she did is enough of a sentence.

DH - teacher

me - FE lecturer/psychotherapist

I'm surprised that no one has suggested making some cuts to the NHS/Welfare tbh!

Laurie - I'm not sure I understand. He can't have known what would happen to the housing market. How was society set up to benefit him?

I agree with TDWP

Rosieo - he had a civil service mortgage at preferential rates - his housing costs (for 4 bedroom in Surrey) were 10% of his income. He then had a final salary non contributary pension scheme. He paid off his mortgage in 15 years.

The housing market could have been controlled. It wasn't.

And we need to build more houses. A huge house building programme.

Pencil pushers
'art' and what not for hospitals etc.
JSA for people who choose not to work
Child trust fund
Maternity grant