Tuesday 8 June 2010

Oh woe are the cuts...but not for thee

In conversation with House of Commoner Bill Quango MP I have come up with an alternative list of cuts the Establishment won't make. I see Guido has an alternative approach, but of course he forgets the crucial information, cuts are always for other people and not for oneself. As a local MP it is important to keep:

1. The BBC - Especially the regional news which is easy to get on and make a point for an aspiring back bencher or candidate. Yes the tax is £140 odd a year but it really is important to have a medium on Politicians can see themselves on a daily basis. This of course ignores the fact that newspapers manage it with no tax, but lets not let the facts get in the way of perception. Real Saving £2 billion a year to taxpayers.

2. Subsidised Food and Drink in the Commons - VAT is going to rise for everyone else and taxes on beer, but in the House of Commons all will be as we still live in the early 1980's. Real Taxpayer saving £7 million +

3. NHS - As an MP private health cover is not really in the affordability matrix. Therefore no cuts to the NHS, despite it being a huge budget with massive amounts of waste, like the £12 billion failed IT system. Potential Taxpayer Savings £10 billion out of £106 billion spend.

4. International Development - Highly important that junkets are kept for free family holidays. The Government pays for MP's to go and glad hand some grateful African dictator or Indian Regional Governor for us topping up their Swiss bank accounts. meanwhile the family accompany go along on the side and the hotel gets upgraded. A nice saving for MP's holiday expenses. Real Taxpayer Saving £5 billion, we can increase this by £500 million a year as the economy recovers to 2020.

5. Theatre and Museums - Very important that the country subsidies the Ballet and other such arty nonsense beloved by the Nick Clegg's of this world. Free Museums too are very important as again they are a service which can be taken advantage of by Notting Hill folk. After all what was the Lottery funding for? Real Taxpayer Saving £2 billion (of £5 billion).


There you go, £19 billion of savings, a nice downpayment for the first year in Government. All low hanging fruit - and none that will be recommended as they threaten the Establishment.

11 comments:

Nick Drew said...

i have started ploughing through the COINS data

there is several TeraBytes in total, so just the Energy stuff for now, and i may not have the stamina to stick at it

but by heaven we spend a lot on keeping the nuclear power industry going !

Electro-Kevin said...

Theatre and Museums - I can't agree with cutting that.

Veneration of past achievements is one of the true marks of a civilisation... and as people get poorer they will rediscover these pleasures. It will all be part of the cultural uplift which we so badly need.

Recession is not all bad. A few less PS3s and foreign holidays might make for a reappraisal of our values.

CityUnslicker said...

EK - cutting the subsidy that makes them free. they can charge people just like they used to. The Notting hill set will still go, just not at taxpayers expense.

Edindie said...

I don't mind paying £140 a year for the BBC. Not sure I'd want to pay £280 though (if only 50% of households wanted it and got the choice).

Electro-Kevin said...

CU - it's not just about the people who go to watch it ... it's about the people who perform it and the academies which are needed to perpetuate high culture.

To my mind it's worth more than gold - and gold is something I don't choose to access to either, but I still want it to be there and feel diminished when it isn't.

Bill Quango MP said...

I must protest CU.
Neither myself nor my family, even when we attend the agriculture conference in the Seychelles in '08 have run up a £5 billion quid bar bill.

Jan said...

Why is defence never put forward for cuts? We must be spending a fortune on gizmos which may never be used or more worryingly it's all just turned into a sort of real-life computer game like the way weapons are fired from the American drones used in Afghanistan all done from a remote computer screen.

Andrew B said...

I have the feeling that comedy will be overtaken by real life very soon.

The HOC bar & food prices will be raised to a 'break even' level.

All part of sharing the pain.

Of course,
Do not forget that a lot of the income here is not received from the MPs, but from their guests...

Young Mr. Brown said...

BBC? Funded by tax? I thought it was funded by the television licence fee - which is not a tax any more than the National Lottery is a tax.

(A tax on fools, that is.)

Bill Quango MP said...

How so young Mr Brown?
Only 2.3% of households do not have a TV licence. As a % far more pay it than car tax, which surely is a tax?

£175,000,000 is spent annually the licence fee on hunting evaders. I don't think Camelot spend millions searching for people who don't buy lottery tickets.

Budgie said...

The BBC must become "pay to view" only.

Everyone can help this happen. How? By not buying a TV licence. Don't watch, don't pay, bring the BBC to its knees. You know it makes sense. Oh, yes.