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Originally Posted by Pierre
Tax levels in this country are too high, and tax cuts will be possible with proper management of public services...
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It depends on your viewpoint - I believe the tax rates are reasonable at the moment - I would like to pay less, but I believe in social justice - helping those who are less able.
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Originally Posted by Pierre
Once we stop pouring billions into the NHS and get it properly managed we will save millions..
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I would turn that around - once we get it properly managed, we could possibly save money (by the way, the private health system in the US costs much more, percentage wise, to run than MediCare)
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Originally Posted by Pierre
Once we stop spending millions on PFI , schools, hospitals etc that we can't afford to run..
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I don't agree with PFI, but how else would you fund the building of new infrastructure?
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Originally Posted by Pierre
Labour, as usual, have gone doolally spending public money with (generally) no results..
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mmmmm - emotive statement
. More people are being treated by the NHS, and more people are going to university.
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Originally Posted by Pierre
The NHS is no better off. They have put in record investment into the NHS yet 18,000 redundancies and ward closures are the result..
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Because (imho) of short-termism - they are being given conflicting targets to achieve, overspend to meet them, and are then punished. I think you will find that there have been more than 18000 new staff in the NHS since 1997, so to put it coldly, the 18000 is offset by the gains (not that that helps the 18000).
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Originally Posted by Pierre
No public transport initiative.
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Totally agree with you there - unfortunately, the UK (along with a lot of countries) has a love affair with the car - major investment would be needed to provide a proper public transport system, which I guess you would not be keen on (major investment, not the transport system).
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Originally Posted by Pierre
They've built new schools that local authorities can't afford to run..
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Please see my PFI comment above.
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Originally Posted by Pierre
Hopefully, the tories will get into power look at the books and get public services managed properly..
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Good luck (and that is speaking as a Tory) - how do you manage rising expectations of choice and service, and reduce costs; tricky one.
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Originally Posted by Pierre
Perhaps if we're lucky we can reduce our council tax by getting rid of "Lifestyle Consultants" out of the Local Authority and other non-jobs there seems to be plenty of that we pay for.
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Whilst there may be some waste, and it should be cut, using examples that use up 0.000001% of the Council Budget doesn't help the argument (imho).