Everything must go: Public offer wild ideas as UK government seeks help on tough spending cuts

Ditch the queen: UK public’s wild ideas for cuts

LONDON — Britain’s Treasury says it will consider wild ideas submitted by the public after calling on taxpayers to help draft the toughest spending cuts in decades.

Treasury chief George Osborne set up a website in July for the public to suggest areas for savings, promising the best proposals would be seriously studied by his staff.

Among ideas listed Thursday are plans to abolish the monarchy, to open Parliament for just four days a month — and adjust legislators’ pay accordingly — and to have prisoners generate cheap electricity by hooking up gym equipment to the power grid.

Osborne will announce spending plans to 2015 in a major speech in October. He wants to make savings of 30 billion pounds ($44 billion) a year to reduce Britain’s huge national debts.