by Kate McFarland | May 30, 2017 | News
Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland, will deliver a TEDx talk titled “Basic income – Scotland’s radical chance to lead the world (again)” in Glasgow on June 2, 2017.
TEDxGlasgow provides the following summary:
The welfare state, built for a different age, is crumbling.
As films such as ‘I, Daniel Blake’ have vividly demonstrated, a system designed to support and protect people at moments of vulnerability in their lives has been warped into one which uses sanctions to punish and control. As wages have stagnated, jobs have changed and incomes have been unpredictable, we have seen the growth of a section of society which Guy Standing calls the ‘Precariat’, living precarious, insecure lives. In turn, we have seen dangerous forces start to harness these insecurities, fuelling the rise of the far right in various parts of the world.
It’s a depressing picture, but there is hope – and Scotland, once again, has a chance to act as a beacon of enlightenment.
Glasgow is leading the way on developing basic income pilots, radical schemes to change the way we envisage work, income and our place in society; and in which we fundamentally shift the relationship between the citizen and state.
In this talk, Jamie will outline some of the positive paths we could take, and the role that basic income could play in creating a radically different Glasgow and Scotland.
For more information about the upcoming TEDxGlasgow event, including biographies and talk summaries of other speakers, see: https://www.tedxglasgow.com/speakers/.
Scotland is already becoming a hotbed of interest in basic income.
Earlier in the year, the City Council of Glasgow partnered with the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) to investigate designs for a basic income pilot program. At present, the Council and RSA are working on a study of the financial, administrative, and constitutional feasibility of a pilot in Glasgow. Workshops on the topics are planned in June and July 2017, with a report to follow in September.
Other regions in Scotland, including the council areas of Fife and North Ayrshire, are also exploring the possibility of basic income pilot programs.
A Scottish affiliate of BIEN, Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland, was launched in November 2016.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Photo: Sunrise over Glasgow, CC BY 2.0 john mcsporran
by Kate McFarland | Feb 21, 2017 | News
The City Council of Glasgow has passed a resolution to proceed with a workshop on the design of a basic income pilot study in the city.
During a November 2016 meeting, the City Council of Glasgow decided to begin research into the design of a basic income pilot study in the city. An important step forward occurred on February 16, 2017, when the council unanimously approved a resolution to convene and fund a workshop dedicated to drafting and examining models for the pilot.
Under the terms of the resolution, the council will commit £5,000 (about 6,200 USD) to the two-day research workshop, which is proposed for spring 2017 and will be overseen by a cross-party working group. During the workshop, basic income experts will meet with councillors, community group members, and other representatives from both the public and private sectors. The objective is to design potential models for the pilot study, as well as to identify key stakeholders in the experiment and potential financial and political barriers to its execution.
The Royal Society of Arts (RSA), which published an award-winning report on a basic income model for the UK (“Creative Citizen, Creative State”), has partnered with the council for the purpose of researching the design of a pilot study for Glasgow. The RSA will prepare an initial document on approaches to basic income pilots, which the selected experts would then analyze in terms of their design, feasibility, and anticipated outcomes.
Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland, comments:
The decision by Glasgow City Council is an important moment for basic income in Scotland, and marks a significant step forward. The RSA is delighted to be working with the Council and other partners on the study, and welcomes the leadership the Council has shown. We now have the opportunity to move the basic income conversation forward and identify practical ways to run a trial which works locally and has global resonance.
At the end of the spring workshop, the working group will submit its proposals and recommendations to the Executive Committee of the Glasgow City Council. A second feasibility study, building upon these design recommendations, would take place during a second phase of the project, tentatively planned for summer 2017.
The full text of the Glasgow City Council resolution is available here.
See also:
“RSA Launches Study on Universal Basic Income Trial in Glasgow,” RSA, February 17, 2017.
“Basic Income pilot considered in Glasgow,” BBC News, February 16, 2017.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan
Photo: CC BY-ND 2.0 Robert Orr
by Kate McFarland | Feb 14, 2017 | News
In January 2017, The Guardian published an interview with Matt Kerr, the Glasgow councillor who has spearheaded an effort to establish a basic income pilot in the city.
Kerr charges that the UK’s social benefit system is no longer adequate, and believes that it is important to consider radical change as a way to give people hope.
Look, it might be that at the end of this whole exercise we find that it’s just not workable, but I’d rather give it a go in good faith. At the moment, defending a system that is only slightly better than the one the government is trying to implement is simply not good enough. It’s not giving anyone any hope.
According to Kerr, in addition to providing a social safety net in a world in which full employment seems increasingly unrealistic, a basic income would provide individuals with greater freedom and control over their lives.
If you’re free from worrying about having a roof over your head and feeding your children, you can be free to take some risks and manage your own life. You can have the ability to take part in your community and volunteer without the risk of sanctions. At its core is a message from the state to the individual, saying ‘we actually give a damn about you and we’ll treat you with respect’.
The interview also touches upon Kerr’s criticism of the Universal Credit scheme introduced in 2010 by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, which merged six means-tested programs into a single monthly payment that is gradually clawed back with additional earnings.
Kerr announced at the launch of Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland in November 2016 that the Glasgow council had instructed its officers to begin researching and designing a local pilot study.
Read the full article:
Kevin McKenna, “The Scottish pioneer whose plan for a basic income could transform Britain,” The Guardian, January 7, 2017.
Reviewed by Dave Clegg.
Photo: Glasgow Cathedral, CC BY 2.0 Michel Curi
by Kate McFarland | Nov 29, 2016 | News
A basic income pilot in Scotland is appearing ever more likely in light of meetings in the council area of Fife and city of Glasgow held in late November.
Interest in basic income has been growing in Scotland in 2016. In March, the country’s largest political party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), passed a motion supporting basic income. In May, interest in the idea was further stoked when Professor Guy Standing, co-founder of BIEN and Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, delivered the Angus Millar Lecture for the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Scotland. Standing’s lecture, which focused on the topic of a basic income for Scotland, was followed by a roundtable event involving civil servants of the Scottish government, local authorities, and members of think tanks and community groups.
These discussions eventuated in the scheduling of multiple BI-related events in November, timed to coincidence with Standing’s return to Scotland to give the Kilbrandon Lecture at the University of Strathclyde. These included two meetings on basic income pilots — one with the Fife Council, the other with the Glasgow City Council — in addition to the official launch of Citizen’s Basic Income Network Scotland (CBINS), BIEN’s Scottish affiliate.
Fife Council Meeting
On Friday, November 25, the Fife Council held a roundtable event in Dunfermline to discuss ideas for a pilot in the council area.
The event brought together councillors, civil servants, members of CBINS, and other individuals interested in basic income.
Standing attended the meeting and delivered an overview of pilots conducted in other parts of the world and their potential implications for Scotland. Following Standing’s presentation, participants discussed next steps toward implementing a pilot, and decided to convene a group to carry out an initial feasibility study in early 2017. Then, if the group determines that sufficient funding can be secured, it will move forward with a formal design process.
Jamie Cooke, head of RSA Scotland, also participated in the meeting. Commenting on the progress made in planning the pilot, he says, “This is a significant step forward for basic income in Scotland, giving a very realistic chance of a pilot taking place in Scotland within the next couple of years.”
The Fairer Fife Commission, an independent commission created by the Fife Council, initially recommended a basic income pilot in a report published in November 2015, where it was one of 40 policy recommendations for achieving a “fairer Fife” by 2030. Specifically, it encouraged the Fife Partnership, Fife’s community planning board, to select a town in the council area in which to run a pilot informed by global best practice (e.g., at the time the report was written, the pilot devised by the Dutch city of Utrecht). The pilot was included among the Commission’s anti-poverty proposals, which otherwise focused largely on promoting work and employment.
Glasgow City Council Meeting
Glasgow City Council building, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 小豪豪 Wu
Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, is also considering a basic income pilot.
On Thursday, November 24, the Glasgow City Council convened a meeting to discuss ideas for the city.
According to Cooke, discussions at this meeting demonstrated that the city has “a more developed and enthusiastic support for basic income” than advocates had previously realized, and the council agreed to continue to look into the idea.
Speaking at the launch of CBINS on Saturday, November 26, Glasgow Councillor Matt Kerr announced that the council had instructed its officers to begin researching and designing a local pilot study.
More Information
Fairer Fife Commission (November 2015) “Fairness Matters”
Report proposing a basic income pilot as one strategy to address poverty in Fife.
Kathleen Nutt (November 22, 2016) “Trial for a basic income for all may go ahead in Scotland,” The National.
Initial media announcement in advance of the Dunfermline meeting on a basic income pilot for Fife.
Thanks to Jamie Cooke at RSA Scotland for much of the information contained in this article.
Reviewed by Genevieve Shanahan.
Cover Photo: Castle and walled garden in Pittenweem, Fife, CC BY 2.0 Glen Bowman.
