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Healthy spending?

Brian Taylor | 10:33 UK time, Wednesday, 13 October 2010

I like vox pops.

They are a core part of my trade.

Asking folk in the street what they think about issues, big or small.

Scotland's chances in the Euro 2012 qualifiers? (Rough luck last night, never a penalty.)

The Alcohol Bill? The Edinburgh trams? Job prospects?

Sometimes it can be difficult persuading people to speak.

I'm the guy who once tried to get people in Thurso to speak about Dounreay. (No go, too close to home.)

But sometimes it is charmingly easy. Sometimes folk form a queue to tell you what they think.

Such has been the experience with the public spending cuts. People are genuinely worried - and keen to speak.

That's also reflected in our poll where there are very few "don't knows". People have an opinion: sometimes a strong opinion.

Look at the latest tranche of the poll today. Virtually nobody wants cuts in the NHS.

Never mind that experts say it's irrational to exempt health from cuts.

Scots won't wear it.

That's true of men and women; of all age groups; of all social classes.

The dogs in the park want to protect the NHS.

But glance too at the one which comes just above that in terms of relative public esteem within the 10 options presented by our pollsters, .

Seems folk are none too keen on raising more cash by allowing local authorities to increase the council tax.

In terms of basic psephology, that's intuitive.

People generally don't like giving the nod to generic tax hikes without specific details. (Take your cue from Donald Dewar privately fretting that the second question on tax would never get through in the 1997 referendum.)

Politically, though, it's a challenge for Labour. They have said that council tax will have to rise in order to prevent cuts in services being worse than otherwise necessary.

At the very least, it would appear that Labour has some persuading to do with the electorate.

Yes, it can be argued that a council tax freeze cannot be sustained indefinitely.

But, right now, when times are hard, it may be a bold move to try to sell a tax hike, whatever the claimed justification.

Next, glance to the "top of the league": the services that people might be persuaded to cut.

Top of the list is free bus travel for those aged over 60.

The option in our poll, drawn like the rest from the Beveridge Report, is to increase the qualification age to 65.

That draws pretty general support - as does a two year pay freeze in the public sector, except for those on low pay.

Snag is, as was wisely pointed out on the wireless this morning, that it may take most of the 10 poll options and then some to make up the gap in spending which is about to open.

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