Like many others I have felt stung by recent critiques of the centre-left agenda, or lack thereof. This is partly a recognition of an uncomfortable truth. We have a lot of small ideas designed to make life better for working people, but we have nothing big; nothing to set hearts racing and bring people flocking to our banners.
But there is an idea being more widely spoken about that we really could adopt and pursue. Something radical which could bring enormous benefit to every one of our citizens, and boost the economy as well. That idea is the universal basic income, and I believe it is an idea whose time has come.
Much has been said about our changing ways of working. The job for life is something that previous generations knew. Now we do a job until it gets abolished, cut or automated. Sometimes we do what we can, when we can, to make ends meet, but the system no longer reflects this. This is why UBI has gone from being a utopian ideal, to a near necessity in just a few short years.
Whether you work or not, the current benefit system is a minefield of ifs and buts. It does not reflect a society where we have multiple jobs, and partners who move in and out. Almost every week people find their benefit entitlements have changed. Fraud is committed accidently, resulting in punitive sanctions enforced by an expensive, and overstretched bureaucracy. How much better if everybody were to receive a basic income, and everything earned beyond it was taxed?
Much of the argument against universal basic income seems to be around the amount at which it can be set. Many of the proposals so far have suggested a weekly figure of about £72, which is dismissed by opponents as inadequate and pointless. Really?
Currently JSA pays about that each week, so people do live off it. As a ‘self-employed’ worker myself, that extra £72 a week would change my life. Right now I can make anything between zero and £75 a week, which means I have to conserve whatever I can, to pay for the times when I don’t make anything. If I was getting that guaranteed £72 every week, I would know essential bills were going to get paid. Any extra money I made could be reinvested to expand, or even better, I could go out and spend it, thus benefitting the wider economy.
And that is the great thing about UBI. It would buy a little security and allow people to take risks. The low income wage slave with the great idea could stop working and pursue their dream, whilst leaving their job available to others. After all, no business turns a profit right away, so if a basic income keeps food on the table and a roof over your head, you can work longer and harder to get it up and running.
Other sectors can benefit too. I have written previously about the need for Labour to target rural voters and what better policy to present to those communities which are so dependent on low-wage and seasonal work? How much better a standard of living if the earned wages can be used to good effect, without worrying how you’re going to heat the house over the winter months?
Some will see the UBI as a disincentive to work, and there are those for whom it may be. But for many others it would provide a safety net to allow creativity to thrive. Gone would be the stigma of Benefits Street; gone would be the intrusive checks into what we’re doing whilst we’re supposed to be looking for jobs. The whole system would be much simpler, as means tested benefits will be replaced, and all earned income will become taxable.
But can it work? The good news is it does already. A UBI exists right now, but we only pay it to over 65’s. We call it the ‘old age pension,’ and many are obliged to live on it. Others are able to top it up with a variety of jobs or private schemes. It doesn’t affect the creativity of many of those older people, so why shouldn’t we roll it out to everyone?
Simply seeing the way I now work, and the way people around me work, has convinced me it’s time to build something new; a social system which really reflects 21st century life. The universal basic income could be the National Health Service, or the minimum wage for the 2020s. It could really make a positive impact for the new generation worker, and set Labour up as the great reforming party we all know it can be.
———————————
Christabel Edwards is a Labour party activist. She tweets @Christabel321
———————————
McDonnell has already mentioned this as someting to be discussed. You are a bit late coming to the table. But I can’t see the tories backing itall, so, yes, it’s a great idea for Labour to press home BUT it must be carefuly calculated compared with the benefits people can claim at present (assuming we stay IN the EU).