Gordon Brown must cut waste, not public spending

With local councils across Britain having money tied up in Icelandic banks, it looks like severe public spending cuts will be taking place during the next two years.

However, Gordon Brown is well placed to find money from the the public purse, judging by a story in the Observer's Pendennis column.

Oliver Marre reveals that the Department For Work and Pensions spent £2,024,431 on taxis in the financial year 2007-8, while the Department for International Development spent £141,228.

A good way to show that Brown has decided to show political courage would be to legally require Transport for London to allow MPs and civil servants free travel on London buses and the Underground.

No doubt Tfl could spend less on ridiculous campaigns to recover this money.

There could also be a bike rental scheme in place as well.

This would then mean that government departments could be banned from spending money on expensive taxis, unless the person in question was disabled or a visitor.

We also need an £80,000 cap on the salaries of those in the public sector.

There will always be people happy to carry out high-up jobs for this amount, and internal promotions will often find someone competent.

However, the Labour Party is not concerned with saving public money and seems to have little understanding of how to obtain votes, so neither of these suggestions will take place!