Got a money-saving idea? Tell Britain's Treasury
Source: Agencies |
August 20, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SELL off the Queen's swans. Make lawmakers work for free. Force prison inmates to generate cheap power on the treadmill.
As Britain's government decides how to make the toughest spending cuts in decades, it has asked the public for help. The result? A list of wild ideas on how to save money - proposals that Treasury chief George Osborne insists will be seriously considered as he draws up a five-year austerity plan.
Osborne wants to save 30 billion pounds per year (US$44 billion) to quickly reduce Britain's huge national debts.
He has ordered government departments to prepare for budget cuts of 25 percent in savings and will announce details of his plans in a major speech in October.
Ministers have already announced a slate of cuts: axing 700 new schools, halting payments to pregnant women to fund healthier diets and scrapping 10 billion pounds worth of projects agreed under ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
But the country's Conservative-led coalition government says it needs help to meet its ambitious target, not least because Osborne intends to balance Britain's books almost exclusively by cutting costs, not raising taxes.
More than 45,000 ideas for savings have been posted on the Treasury's website by members of the public and government workers. They range from the deliberately extreme (scrapping Britain's monarchy), to the seemingly sensible (have staff book hotels online).
"We asked everyone across the country - the people who use our schools, hospitals, transport systems and other public services - to send in their ideas for how to save public money and get more out of our services," said a Treasury spokeswoman.
Among edgier ideas are plans to put Britain's population of almost 100,000 prisoners to work.
For example: Have convicts cook meals for public hospitals or homes for the elderly. Or adapt treadmills and rowing machines in prison gyms to produce power for the national electricity grid.
Cameron said earlier this month seeking out the public's ideas would help build support for the likely painful cuts to be announced in October.
As Britain's government decides how to make the toughest spending cuts in decades, it has asked the public for help. The result? A list of wild ideas on how to save money - proposals that Treasury chief George Osborne insists will be seriously considered as he draws up a five-year austerity plan.
Osborne wants to save 30 billion pounds per year (US$44 billion) to quickly reduce Britain's huge national debts.
He has ordered government departments to prepare for budget cuts of 25 percent in savings and will announce details of his plans in a major speech in October.
Ministers have already announced a slate of cuts: axing 700 new schools, halting payments to pregnant women to fund healthier diets and scrapping 10 billion pounds worth of projects agreed under ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
But the country's Conservative-led coalition government says it needs help to meet its ambitious target, not least because Osborne intends to balance Britain's books almost exclusively by cutting costs, not raising taxes.
More than 45,000 ideas for savings have been posted on the Treasury's website by members of the public and government workers. They range from the deliberately extreme (scrapping Britain's monarchy), to the seemingly sensible (have staff book hotels online).
"We asked everyone across the country - the people who use our schools, hospitals, transport systems and other public services - to send in their ideas for how to save public money and get more out of our services," said a Treasury spokeswoman.
Among edgier ideas are plans to put Britain's population of almost 100,000 prisoners to work.
For example: Have convicts cook meals for public hospitals or homes for the elderly. Or adapt treadmills and rowing machines in prison gyms to produce power for the national electricity grid.
Cameron said earlier this month seeking out the public's ideas would help build support for the likely painful cuts to be announced in October.
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