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I live in Barnet, does that mean they will reduce local taxation or are we going to get less at the same price. The thing about Ryanair and Easyjet is that they are cheaper!!!!!

- Danny, london

The inevitable and correct response to years of exploding public sector spending. Now lets go through what we're spending on what line by line... Time to balance the books.

- Jules_London, london

Come on Cameron pull it together, cut the waste and then you won't need to raise more money.

- Ian, london

Alan Essex

"just invite professional consultants to go through these Councils or Government departments- and carry out their recommendations. I guarantee the savings would be colossal - "

I quarantee the consultants fee will be colossal.

- Mick, London, England

A progressive and interesting initiative which is well worth trying. Given the financial mess labour are leaving behind them, public expenditure will have to be pruned and we need to start considering how that can be achieved. Pie in the sky promoises from the Left won't do the trick.

- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK

One service for the poor and one for the rich same old tory rubbish and you lot a lining up to vote for this shower, god help us

- Jackie, England

The tories are bereft of ideas,identical to the Labour party but with nicer cufflinks,-"VOTE FOR UKIP"

- Aufdeutsch, Canterbury Kent.

Sound like there'll be an increasing incidence of DVT!

- Bob, London (Boho.com)

This can only work when we have competent concillors and 'officers'who earn their salaries. When, oh when?

- Keith, Dover, Kent

We have brought this on ourselves. By not addressing the greed culture and not addressing the enormous waste we know there is on the public sector, we reap the rewards.

Similarly, our ignorant attitude such as dropping litter, leaving lights on in public buildings and offices, cheating the system, stealing from work places (stationery and such like) - all this means higher costs.

We deserve a big kick up the bum and we are going to get it, whoever is in power. This recession is a wake up call. The Conservatives will be more honest about the effects than Labour, I expect. It's difficult for Labour to duck this one - they have been at the helm while we milked the country and a few got very rich.

- Lester May, London

Tory plans don't work if Tory town Christchurch in Dorset, is anything to go by as a role model.

1 A (so-called) by pass that directs traffic into the town not bypassing it. This road is more often than not blocked on the West bound lanes due to the following.

2 The infamous Barrack road where four lanes of heavy-duty traffic are directed into two. The sum of 4 into 2 does not go.

3 The Hurn Road and Fairmile Road where if it not full of heavy traffic it has long term road works on the go.

4 Councillors often complain as to lack of moneys for the ‘Free Bus Passes’. Yet as one large house is demolished it is replaced by a fifty OAP’s s apartments ‘Warden Controlled Private’ block of flats. Thus fifty times more revenue then a single dwelling.

With all this revenue the Tories cannot cope to control just this one town, so if they take control of the country God help us.

- Carl Barron, Christchurch, Dorset

Y'know what - if there is serious intent on shaving costs from Councils - or any other Government organisation - just invite professional consultants to go through these Councils or Government departments- and carry out their recommendations. I guarantee the savings would be colossal - and that's why they are never invited to review these operations - too many "Empire Builders" protecting their backs.
For those of us who have worked with large private blue chip Companies, we are very well aware of the outcome resulting from visitations from these Consultants
when carrying out Company "Health Checks".

- Alan, Essex

All part of UK's deline. You cannot afford local council extravagance any more.

- Mr Pastry, Brisbane Australia

As the services will be put out to tender, the contract will go to the cheapest bid which must include a profit to make it worthwhile. Where will this profit come from? Obviously, each service will degrade and the recipients and staff will suffer in order to cut costs. There is no real "efficiency" in doing this as the example of poor cleaning in hospital wards shows. There is no substitute for direct control where high service standards are required.

- Carole, Croydon, England

It also works in reverse

rates are cut to the bone so the council must justify all expenditure "eazy spend"

the ratepaysers will not subsidise unnecessay politically correct jobs "eazy job"

No more expenditure on wasteful pensions for life " eazy pension"

minimum wage jobs for all and the ratepayers vote on any individual pay increase "eazy pay"

yes I do like the idea of 'no frills government' if it works across all levels

- Jan, London, England

The Tories are going to create some new 'flagship' councils, like Thatcher did, to promote the idea that conservativism works, when we all know the opposite. Money will be poured into these councils just to bolster that impression andmany Londonners will be taken in.

- Dhan Raj, Basildon

Public services will only ever improve when enough supervisors with the power to recommend sack/termination of contracts are installed. There are too many paper pushers and not enough people checking that services are provided correctly, efficiently and economically.

- Nora, London, UK

I agree with Andy from London. If the scheme goes ahead do we get a discount on all the services we don’t use?

- Lee, middlesex

No-one chooses Ryanair for their level of service, only for the level of cost. Councils should not be run on that model - you should NOT run social care on a cut-price, minimum service budget, that's a despicable way to treat elderly and vulnerable people.

For those who keep moaning about how bad the Labour Government is - look out, it's about to get much much worse.

- Nolan, Londonist

SO the crux of the matter is basically , that the more money you have the more likely your planning application will be , and the better your service will be.

Seems the poor/ low wage/middle waged will be suffering once again under the tories ( i still have not forgotten the mess thay left this country in after asset stripping it).
Im afraid Mr Cameron is a very poor political leader and like most leader of mainstream parties , just does not get the point.

The mind truly boggles sometimes.

MR( VOTING PEASANT/WAGE SLAVE) PASTRY

- Mr Pastry, london

It’s good and very refreshing to see that the Tories are finally thinking about treating everyone equally; we have women’s rights today, and we even have human rights today.

Paying £10 to see your doctor makes millionaires and billionaires equal to the lowest paid members of the British Empire, even sweat-shop workers can walk into their doctors with pride and their heads held high, knowing they are equal with millionaires and billionaires, and pay the same fee’s.

I just hope they don’t charge the Queen as well, if they do; everyone will be equal to royalty.

God Bless you Tories, I tip my hat to you all, you are all real gentlemen of the highest class, and most generous sacrifice, not like those toffs in the Labour Party.

It is a fact that the poor do not need to see doctors anyway, their life expectancy is not as long as the wealthy among us, so they can save their £10 for food instead.

- Mickinlondon, london

Simple steps by the public can help save significant amounts of public funds. Like clearing up after themselves (ie not littering), keeping doctor and hospital appointments, paying council tax and rent on time, refraining from falling down drunk in public and vomiting on the pavement or road.

- Helen, norwich

All this in the wake of the Poll/Council tax. I shudder at the thought of a Tory regime.
T H Leeds

- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK

Anything that reduces the waste in the public sector is a good thing. As a small businessman I was shocked when I become an (unpaid) member of the board for a publicly-funded development quango. Lunch at the best restaurants, an office far nicer than my own costing - get this - £78,000 pa for around 1000 sf (when a free one was available in another admitedly-scruffier building), average wages of £40,000 for inexperienced staff, a huge promotions budget, meeting-room biscuits that Fred Goodwin would have approved of - it went on and on in an atmosphere of "well if it's good enough for the private sector...". I wish.

- Milton Not Keynes, Hackney

So you pay your poll tax then you have to pay again to actually get the service. So everyone pays and only the rich at the front of the queue get the service. Thus the poor subsidize the rich. Standard Tory Party policy which the poor will be stupid enough to vote for at the next election.

- Mick, London, England

Does this mean that the council tax remains the same or indeed will increase from next April, but any service will cost extra unless of course you are on benefits How about council staff paying for their own pensions that will save as lot of money. In principle the idea is a good one but for a council to manage it and in particular Barnet it will cost more, benefit noone and be a complete failure. It's just a cost cutting excercise because Labour deny the borough the grant contribution it neeeds to provide service and sends the money up north to Labour councils to keep the vote

- Strongbow Sullivan, Paris,France.

'Mr Cameron is encouraging experimentation and has told local authorities they could do "literally whatever they like" under a Tory government as long as it does not break the law.'
My (Labour) Council does whatever it likes, including constantly beaking the law, already: they need no encouragement like this.
Please, nobody fall for the assumption that private sector provision equals efficiency gain. Kier took over our (Waltham Forest)street cleaning for a £600,000 'saving'pa, but need slippping an extra few hundred thou every so often to clean out drains, or do lots of stuff that used to be taken for granted was part of the job. They got rid of loads of staff, but the streets are a constant cause of complaint since, so any 'saving' didn't go to the taxpayer, that's for sure.

If the private sector is cheaper, it'll be because they're doing much less work for a little less money.

As for inviting comparisons with Ryanair, who in their right mind would think that was a good thing?

- Mdj E10, london uk

Ryanair is a business, councils provide necessary and non profit public services, why would they use a business model. It's all about service. It seems to me that Ryanair has pared everything down until there is no service or the basic service is so inadequate that you have to pay through the nose to get anywhere near a decent service. I recently tried to book a flight on Ryanair and was horrified by the process where an inexpensive flight turned into an expensive one and I had to fight over and over again to turn off their offered insurance. I left thinking I wanted nothing to do with a company who I felt tried to trick me at every turn and who only cared about every penny they could screw out of me. I don't want that from my council thank you.

- David Reid, London

"As part of the approach, chief executive Nick Walkley suggested residents could clear snow from their paths." I thought that if you cleared the snow, and then someone slipped on the cleared part that you (the clearer) were responsible for their injuries, which is why people don't clear snow from their paths.

- Jim, London

"Ryanair-style" - God save us from the Tories. Just remember what they did when they were in power for 17 years prior to this Government. While I'm about it - God save us from Nu-Labour too..!!!!!

- Mark H, London, England

The problem here is that low cost companies generally employ fairly competant staff capable of multi tasking, local government tends towards the shallow end of the gene pool in it's recruitment.

- Bob, Cheam

I'm shocked that the Tories want to be associated with a scheme similar to Ryanair - which is well known for cheap prices on the face of it but the final bill is always considerably higher and in some cases the cost of the flight costs more than flying with BA!!

If such a scheme is brought in I presume I will no longer have to pay for all the local services I don't use but currently contribute to!

- Andy, London

Beware! Look what happened to the microcharge for prescriptions! 45p when it was introduced. Now look at it.

- Matt, Telford, UK

A good fresh idea. Something the incumbent government seems all out of. If it means councils become less of a financial burden on us then I'm all for it.

- James, London, Maida Vale

Whats new about this - the tories have always been about "To him that hath shall be given to him that hath not shall be taken."

I suppose the need quicker planning laws so the new Tory MPs can get new moats and duck houses installed!

- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex

I do not agree that I should pay to see the doctor! I already pay Income Tax and for my perscriptions, while a layabout at home pays for nothing!

If anything, they should charge the unemployed to use the NHS and GP surgeries ... Sponge Britain... The system is making it economically viable not to work, which of course is down to the government failing broken Britain

- Ray Charles, London

I dont care if councils charge for a service but I would expect a total removal from council tax for any services charged on a pay as you go basis. The overall tax paid for local services must go down as a result of this not up. We pay far too much direct and indirect tax in the UK as it is.

- Ian, Dartford, UK

If you lived in the Luton area and heard all of the complaints phoned into the local radio stations (3CR) consumer programme about cut price airlines you
wouldn't believe that this is a good idea.

- Mike M, Bedford England

"recipients of adult social care in Barnet will choose to spend a limited budget on whether to have a cleaner or a respite carer". Is it not just possible that many such people will genuinely need both .. and that the other residents of Barnet would happily pay for them.

My first ten years were spent working for a London Borough. Cuts followed cuts, always affecting those who actually delivered services. Meanwhile 'Management Services' unheard of in 1974 was half a floor of staff by the time I left. They, of course, were the ones who planned the cuts and repeated restructuring whilst making sure they were never on the receiving end.

- Tonyb, Melbourne, Australia

The problem with all public sector bodies is not one of strategy but culture and until the culture of waste, ineffiency, over-adminisatration and money easy come easy go is fundamentally addressed and replaced with a culture of thrift, then this experiment will just be another expensive waste of our money. But as long as its our money, why should the politicians care?

- David, Huddersfield

Its about time our bloated and incompetent councils were cut down to size. Make a start by getting rid of the hugely expensive and pointless Chief Execs and bring back Mayors who are volunteers to be figurehead instead. Cut the number of councillors in half and save a fortune on their wages sorry allowances. Cut out the dead wood in the planning departments who always favour developers over Joe Public and outsource their jobs. Most importantly of all - NO MORE COUNCIL TAX RISES!

- Mike Silver, Manchester England

Cameron and Boris are the two stupidest politicians we have on Britain today. It is no surprise that both admit to running red lights and cycle on the pavements of London

- Keith Price, Luton England

Do I get a refund on my council tax then, if I get a substantially reduced service?

Do I get a refund on my National Insurance, which I pay a fortune for every month - but get either an embarassingly poor service from people barely able to communicate in English or manage their way out of a paper bag - can I have all that wasted money back - and pay for private medical insurance please?

I dont want to support something incapable, incompetent, unable and/or not willing to pay for top level drugs and decent levels of care.

Why would I then ALSO start paying extra for basics which I am already getting raped in taxes for by Labour?

I want my money back. I see this as a breach of contract between citizen and promises to deliver by the Government.

- Alex, Laaanden

Very good comment Treaded.

Rest assured though, when this is the case they will hire a crack team to work out why. When that doesn't work we can just hire a committee to look at the national picture and work out why it isn't profitable.

- Edward Jones, Leeds, UK

Micro charger, how about macro efficiency savings, anyone that has ever worked in both public and private sectors will tell you the publiuc sector is overstaffed, over wasteful, in fact over everything that is detrimental to efficiency.

- Mike, Cambs

Barnet - no frills?

The Mayor of Barnet (a pointless post if there ever was one) is none other than Brian Coleman. As reported by the Evening Standard on 10 March 2009, Coleman will this year earn £104,503.50 for a variety of roles as London's most lucrative and ludicrous public office holder.

He achieved particular notoriety for keeping a cab waiting for two-and-a-half hours, running up a bill of £656 - paid by us taxpayers.

If Barnet council is really into choice and no-frills, it would allow its residents to decide whether they actually want a mayor, choose who it should be(Coleman was elected by his fellow Tory councillors) and who should be mayoress (Coleman's mother, in case you didn't know).

- Austen, London

Agree, bring that to Brent Council ASAP.

- Rogerio Barros, London UK

Does this mean we can have fewer counsellors with their secretary's and expense accounts that we have to pay for ?

- Vince, liverpool

Yet in true civil service fashion the income generated will be far less than the cost of administration.

- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark

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