In a live studio debate last night, a Channel 4 audience voted for plans to cut spending by £76 billion by introducing more road tolls and cuttting public sector pension contributions but voted against public sector pay cuts and sugegstions we could all pay £10 to visit our GP.

The audience said they would welcome a VAT rise but not an extension to children's clothes and other items that are not currently taxed. They also voted by a slim majority against benefit cuts.

And the rage against the banking sector was evident as many audience members questioned why the whole country had to share the pain when irresponsible bankers had caused the current chaos.

They voted to raise £20 billion from taxes on tha banks.

Did you see the show?

Have you seen any good ideas on how government spending could be cut that are not getting a hearing at the moment?

What would you cut? And what would you be willing to pay for?

Play chop or not here on the Channel 4 website at http://chopornot.channel4.com/

I lived in the Channel Islands for three years and when I visited my GP in St Helier I had to pay £22 before I was given an appointment. The very few people who could not afford it attended the A&E unit at the hospital.

The result is that there is considerably less demand to see a GP and patients are given more time and attention and the standard of care is significantly better than in the UK. Hypochondriacs and time wasters think twice before parting with £22 and the system works very well.

I would support immediate charges to see a GP in the UK but I suspect that the majority of people will squeal like stuck pigs and reject the proposal outright without even considering the merits of the case.

Anonymous 2 needed this 'Off the Record'

I agree with anonymous - and would cut unnecessary payments from the state to well-off people!

I would completely change the way higher education is funded.
1)Students should be thought of as people investing in themselves as business - the cost of education the cost of setting up a business
their loan from the government - or banks a business loan - should be repaid - but they should take the cost of the repayment off their taxes- like businesses take costs out of profits
2) The way being trained as a skilled workman - or woman should be rethought
there should be graded levels of skill - that could feed into management of that trade -
this could be done by taking a page out of what the city and guilds does - only do it on a larger scale -
Example of a life plan.
a)Young person trains as a carpenter - this training should include simple book keeping on a computer
b)step two - learning to design on a computer
c)step three should be able to upgrade into being a designer
d)or small business training to learn how to run a group of men and woman on a building site

All this training might cost some money - but that money should be taken off of tax -
The government is currently paying for what is building people's capital out of current expenses - - no business can run that way
The problem with the cost of education is the way it is financed - not that more people should have access to it.
The point is to make all members of society able to upgrade their skills - not cut this upgrading back.

I personally have helped essentially unskilled people working for me upgrade themselves - and move into the lower middle class - this should be encouraged in every way - as a result their own children now are aiming - for University - because their parents are socialised to take them to museums - read to them - and because their parents think of themselves in a different way -

This is good - not bad - this makes money for society - and makes for social stability

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