The question that dominates in Westminster is what cuts can be made to reduce the deficit in public finance?

But the UK deficit is less than that of the USA, France, Germany Italy, Canada and many others. The big winner in all this is China, where companies fall over themselves to import cheap Chinese goods. How many people look at the label on clothes before buying these days? We give awards to those companies who import the most Chinese goods because of the profits they make.

This is the real deficit and the one that is not being addressed. It's not just me who says this. On the Treasury Committee I questioned the Governor of the Bank of England and he agrees that this is the bigger issue.

There need to be some cuts because we cannot sustain constant budget deficits. Just like having a mortgage, you need to be able to comfortably afford the mortgage payments. There are things that can be cut. A 10% cut in every government department, done over three years would cut out the excesses and optional extras.

We can cut top executives. Bassetlaw pays £1 million for its senior managers, replicated by every other council in Nottinghamshire. Having unitary councils would save a significant sum. Cutting benefits for those refusing drug or alcohol treatment will both save money and improve health. I have put forward proposals on drug treatment that would save over £1billion every year. Will the chattering classes in London listen though?

Shifting civil servants from London would be a huge saving, as would closing British army bases in Germany and building fewer Trident submarines. Why are we paying overseas aid to China and India, when their growth is the fastest in the world? And why do we pay for English teaching across the developed world - we should charge for this? Crossrail is another big scheme that can be scrapped saving many billions.

The cost of work permits should be greatly increased. If an employer or and industry fails to train up local people it is an incentive if we make the cost of work permits very high. There should be a basic price and top ups based on income. If football or banking want to freeze out local young people then they should pay a premium in tax in this way.

And small savings count. Bassetlaw News and the useless County Council publications should be scrapped immediately, as should every Alderman's Dinner. Count the pennies and save the pounds!