In an article published in The Guardian on April 13, journalist John Harris provides an overview of the idea of basic income, along with some speculation about its future, drawing largely from discussions with Inventing the Future co-author Nick Srnicek, currently a freelance academic in London.
Harris presents evidence of growing interest in basic income within the UK. For instance, he mentions the group Radical Assembly, which participated in a demonstration in London on April 16. While most demonstrators demanded more and better jobs (alongside demands for better housing, health and education), Radical Assembly organized the “No Jobs bloc” — which called for less work, more automation, and a basic income for all.
Harris also talks to three luminaries about their support for a basic income in the UK: Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s sole member of Parliament (the Greens have long supported a basic income), Anthony Painter, Director of Policy and Strategy at the RSA (which released a report on a basic income last year), and Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA.
John Harris, 13 April 2016, “Should we scrap benefits and pay everyone £100 a week?“* The Guardian.
* Note that the title of this article is misleading. In fact, neither Harris nor the individuals whom he quotes (Srnicek, Lucas, Painter, and Taylor) propose to “scrap benefits.” Radical Assembly has explicitly declared that it does not support basic income as a replacement of welfare and at a figure as small as £100 a week (personal correspondence) — a point with which many, plausibly most, proponents of basic income agree. (For just one example of how a basic income might be combined with other benefits, see this recent article in Basic Income News about disability and basic income.)
Image: No Jobs Bloc in London, UK; “Demand the Future” banner by Michelle Tylicki
