UK Public's Ideas For Budget Cuts (PHOTOS)

As Great Britain struggles with how to make its toughest spending cuts in decades, Treasury chief George Osborne is turning to the British public for help.

According to reports, Osborne has ordered government departments to prep for budget cuts of up to 25 percent -- the details of which he is expected to announce in October. In doing so, he hopes to save 30 billion pounds ($44 billion) annually in an effort to reduce the country's huge national debts.

Thus far, over 45,000 ideas have been submitted by the public to the Treasury via the "Spending Challenge" section of its website. They range from the seemingly sensible, such as finding cheaper cell phone contracts for government employees, to the absurd -- with more than one calling for Queen Elizabeth II to resign or simply do away with the monarchy altogether.

Vote for the most inspired submission for a British budget cut here:

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Several contributors suggested that Queen Elizabeth II step down, or reduce the number of her family members that receive money.

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Several contributors suggested that Queen Elizabeth II step down, or reduce the number of her family members that receive money.

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Craziest Ideas For UK Budget Cuts

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Craziest Ideas For UK Budget Cuts

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Comments

[eric14]

08:11 AM on 09/30/2010

Well that was like reviewing the complete idiot's guide to cuts in the UK.

There have been many calls for a 6% cut in public service salaries above £50,000 per year and a 10% rise in income tax on those making more than £100,000 per year. Strangely, these ideas are not widely reported.

In the UK, more than 5,000 persons in public employment are paid more than the Prime Minister.

[tobynsaunders]

02:02 PM on 09/06/2010

It would be so great to stop funding the royal family: surely their wealth was ill-gotten & it's plainly immoral to use tax funds for royal lifestyles.

Upkeeping historical buildings is one thing & maybe that has just cause (unless the money was spent on more important things like preventing suffering, in which case, stuff the buildings), but the family members respective lives should not be tax funded. Ethics matter.

[Lux Veritas]

10:41 AM on 09/30/2010

Why do people not see the importance of the royal family, they bring countless amounts of money into the country, a lot more than they are paid.I suppose we could just give, but i don't fancy ending up like post imperial (Soviet) Russia

[cardiaccare]

12:39 PM on 08/24/2010

Put the crown jewels on e-bay!

[vulpecula762mm]

11:18 AM on 08/24/2010

Maybe they should start drinking less and pour some innovation into their media and work on loosing up that caste system. I used to work for ITV and I could of had a line of punters around the corner with sacks full of quid and due to inflexibility, incompetence, political jockeying and plain old delusions of superiority coming from London... I would have been able to unable to service them.

Actually.... that is what happened

So my suggestion would be... find some competence and ditch the 900 year old social stratification. It's stagnated they whole country.

[plan-uts]

02:48 PM on 08/23/2010

What are the Royals worth in media and tourist dollars?

[crayola 08b]

05:17 PM on 08/23/2010

ooh that's a very good question.

[Tony Andrews]

05:31 PM on 08/23/2010

According to "Visit Britain" £500 million a year:-

http://www.visitbritain.org/mediaroom/pressreleases/index.aspx

[eric14]

08:13 AM on 09/30/2010

Why should tourists not come if the country is a republic? The hardware remains. The idea that tourists come because the country is a monarchy is utter nonsense. A nice piece of propaganda for you to swallow. Gawd help us.

[Kris Bui]

01:56 PM on 08/23/2010

Why do the queens' family members get money???

[Tony Andrews]

05:32 PM on 08/23/2010

Either they have their own jobs and incomes, or she pays them.

[Lux Veritas]

10:43 AM on 09/30/2010

Because its the 'Royal Family'

[slogward]

06:48 AM on 08/23/2010

The Queen makes a profit. The civil service costs us £1 in 8 of the national debt.

Ditch the civil servant fraudsters, not the Queen....

http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/08/today-slog-begins-campaign-to-try-and.html

[Lux Veritas]

10:45 AM on 09/30/2010

Finally some form of reason

http://theliberalconservative.org/

[LJIESQ]

04:34 PM on 08/22/2010

Are you Brits really sure you want to try and turn these freeloading in-breeders into businessmen?

[Tony Andrews]

08:46 PM on 08/24/2010

They already are.

[msjimmied]

02:04 PM on 08/22/2010

Grow Marijuana. We will send consultants and experts.

[Dela1]

11:46 PM on 08/21/2010

Whatever, it will never happen. This Government sucks big time.

[TYRANNASAURUS]

06:35 PM on 08/21/2010

WHY DITCH HER?????? THE QUEEN IS WHAT DISNEYLAND, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, KNOTT'S BERRY FARM, LEGO LAND, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, ETC,ETC ETC, ARE TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA............ MONEY SUCKING TOURIST TRAPS.

[schatsie]

01:20 PM on 08/22/2010

I know and her costumes are so neat! as well as those of her cohorts....

[Hollyse]

11:44 AM on 08/23/2010

Don't make the Queen's position so trite as "royality" in England is a controlling factor to NWO. People invite the reasoning of tourism in royality-queen-appeal not the other way around. If people want to PAY OUT for amusement why shoud the so called royals not capitalize on tourist fascination while your dollars in their pockets put lobster on the table. Ther's something about man's self manipulation in thinking himself lesser to royality when these people need the same basics to survive.... water, food, and shelter. Strip these "Let them eat cake people" of title ans see who they really are.

[santiago sherwood]

06:24 PM on 08/21/2010

stupid people with stupid idea, if they did all of it it would not add up to 5 pounds per Brit. What they need to change is the costly structure of Government, Large scale consolidation of departments and terminate many costly programs, Trident, The third aircraft carrier, funding dead industries. Trident alone cost 100 pounds per taxes payer and the battle group that goes wit han aircraft carrier will cost 300 pounds per person to maintain. The tax code is the longest in the world. They could easily cut 1500 pounds if they consolidated the major programs of welfare, public assistance, unemployment and workmen's compensation. that alone would be 500 pounds per taxes payer. but be stupid and trivial and give us a reason to think the UK should be ignored.

[slogward]

06:49 AM on 08/23/2010

Right on...

http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/08/today-slog-begins-campaign-to-try-and.html

[01202009]

02:14 PM on 08/21/2010

What a foolish idea! The Queen more than makes up for whatever it costs to keep her. If they cut the budget 25% it lead the way into a depression. Maybe our own GOP can watch and see how it's done.

[Colmore]

02:01 PM on 08/22/2010

The gop is busy trying to destoy the President right now. They are not interested in improving govt., unless it involves tax cuts for the wealthy.

[Hollyse]

11:49 AM on 08/23/2010

England is an operational vacuum cleaner. Until it's "subjects" realize the slavery they're in to absolute stu[pidity of royality being more than people the strtess operational systems endure so the elite of empowerment have advantage to consume more. It's a friggin game people. The few control the many while laughing their way to the banks. Who the hell finds entertainment of dropping $20.00 plus for ticket price in seeing crown jewels is an evil realization of people dying for more mone in the pockets of the elites. Ya think they care for your survival? Time to eliminate those who say, "Let them eat cake!"

[Tony Andrews]

04:00 PM on 08/23/2010

Historic Royal Palaces is a charitable institution which receives no funding from the British exchequer, and the Tower of London (which displays the crown jewels) is among its remits. The entrance fees that you pay are used for the essential staffing, maintenance, repair, conservation etc. etc. etc. of those Palaces. If you, or anyone else, does not want to pay an admission charge, no-one is forcing you to do, and there are a great many entirely free things to do and see in London and thoughout the British Isles.

Historic Royal Palaces balance sheets are available on line if you really want to see where the money goes, but I suspect that you are not.

[Kamen Gullberg]

02:12 PM on 08/21/2010

Isn't the Queen half the tourist dollars for England?

[deluk]

03:10 PM on 08/21/2010

No, most of our tourists are from the EU who certainly don't come to "see the queen" this is just a strange American perception.

[Dela1]

11:47 PM on 08/21/2010

Everyone is interested in the Queen, it's not just Americans.

[Hollyse]

11:53 AM on 08/23/2010

AGREE Fantasy is interneting especially existing in the minds who want thrills wkithin the logicv of existing and experiencing before tnheir lives are gone. Illusional reality for pleasure kicks the behind of delusional thinking making a system out of nothing into the reality of something. We Americans need to disconnect to reconnect from an insne way of life.

[slogward]

06:50 AM on 08/23/2010

Correct....and civil servants are £1 in 8 of our national debt...

http://nbyslog.blogspot.com/2010/08/today-slog-begins-campaign-to-try-and.html

[MarkMad]

01:06 PM on 08/21/2010

Does the Treaty of 1213 means anything?

[WillieBlack]

01:13 PM on 08/21/2010

No.

[MarkMad]

01:16 PM on 08/21/2010

Why not?

[nrglaw]

07:11 PM on 08/21/2010

Ok, I'll bite. What does the Treaty of 1213 say?