by Toru Yamamori | Feb 27, 2015 | Research
[Toru Yamamori]
Pete Higgins is an independent candidate for Stoke on Trent South, a UK parliament constituency where currently represented a Labour MP. He initiated an online petition for a basic income as well. In his post, he displays reasons for BIG such as a failure of the current welfare state, etc, which can be found elsewhere in BI literature. What is unique in his proposal is that he argues that only maximum two children in the same family could get ‘Child UBI.’ According to him this restriction should be made in order to “encourage people to make responsible financial decisions during family planning and help control unsustainable population growth.”
Pete Higgins, “Why Universal Basic Income is a Better Alternative to the Welfare State.” Pete Higgins – independent candidate for Stoke on Trent South, November 5th, 2014.
Pete Higgins
by Liam Upton | Feb 25, 2015 | News
The Green Party England and Wales launched its election campaign yesterday with leader Natalie Bennett confirming in a radio interview that Basic Income, also known as Citizen’s Income, would be included in the manifesto, to be launched closer to the election. The manifesto, she said, would include a fully costed Basic Income proposal.
There had been some confusion about whether or not Basic Income would be included in the manifesto when at least two news sources, the Telegraph and the New Statesman misreported Green party MP Caroline Lucas as stating that the policy would not be in the manifesto. She actually said that it would not be in the manifesto as something to be introduced after the next election, scheduled for May 7th.
Ms Bennett re-affirmed these comments in her interview, saying that the policy was not something the party intended to introduce overnight “or even within the term of the next Parliament”, instead saying “It’s something we want to consult on, offer over time”.
The next UK election is expected to be very close, with minor parties such as the Scottish National Party, the Green parties and others possibly holding the balance of power, putting them in a strong position to influence government policy.
The surge in support for the Green parties in the UK reflects the increasing support Basic Income is receiving in the political sphere recently, with the most popular party in the polls in countries such as Finland, the Netherlands and Spain supporting Basic Income.
If you would like to support the Green Party’s election campaign you can visit their website https://greenparty.org.uk/
For more information, see:
BBC News, “Election 2015: Green leader Bennett launches campaign”, BBC News, 24 February 2015
Liam Upton, “Basic Income makes unprecedented political progress”, Basic Income News, 15 December 2014
by Toru Yamamori | Feb 18, 2015 | Research
Malcolm Torry, who has long been serving as the director of the Citizen’s Income Trust, reflected a time he worked as welfare officer in late 1970s and how uncertain the situation of claimants were because of the nature of means tested benefit. He argues that BIG “will need to be high on the agenda of the Government enquiry into income maintenance.”
Malcolm Torry, “Basic Income – a benefits system for our society, today and tomorrow.” Discovers Society: Measured – Factual – Critical, Issue 13, September 30, 2014.
by Josh Martin | Feb 15, 2015 | News
Natalie Bennett, leader of the recently resurgent UK Green party, spoke at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on Friday to a packed room of 100 or more students. She began by giving a half hour stump speech covering a number of the Green party’s major policies, including proposing a living wage, stopping tax inversion, being smarter with food production, and addressing the issues surrounding the environment. In this monologue she also spent a few minutes outlining the value of a universal basic income. During her time discussing the basic income, she outlined its ability to free people from undesirable jobs and labeled it a long-term plan of the Green party.
After her policy speech, she took questions from the audience for another 45 minutes. I (Josh Martin) am a Masters student at LSE, and I was able to ask the very first question to her. I first mentioned the Patrick Wintour article in the Guardian that mistakenly conflated the Citizen’s Income Trust’s revenue neutral basic income scheme with the Green party’s plan for a basic income, and then asked whether or not she would, in fact, prefer a revenue neutral scheme or one set at a higher level that would probably require increased taxes or another form of funding. In response, she first reiterated the Green party’s policymaking process where any members can put forward policy proposals, so she is not solely responsible for Green party policy. She thus was unable to directly answer my question, but she noted that a Green party basic income costing scheme will be published in March for consultants to revise. However, she stated that the basic income will not be a part of their 2015 election manifesto; she did not see it as a part of the Green party’s five year plan, but rather as a longer-term policy.
Due to the Wintour article and the other negative press that surrounded the UK Green party’s support of a basic income in recent weeks, it was refreshing to hear Bennett discuss the basic income unprompted in her brief policy speech. Even though the Greens will not include the basic income in their manifesto this year, it seems they still support it seriously enough to develop a costing plan this year.
by Josh Martin | Feb 12, 2015 | News
McMillan writes in response to the headlines going around the UK stating that a basic income would cost 280 billion pounds, instead arguing that it would be far less, simply by replacing and redefining already existing programs like Jobseekers Allowance, tax allowances, and pensions.
Jamie McMillan, “Basic Income Scheme: How to Pay for it”, Planet Rant, 26 January 2015.
