Debates
| Date | Department | Forum | Title |
| Tue 24 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Covid-19: Support for Businesses 19 speeches (1,892 words) |
| Found: it needs to go, will he consider using the tax and welfare system to roll out a universal basic income | |||
| Tue 24 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Low-paid Workers: Wages Increase 12 speeches (893 words) |
| Found: measure that we can, but the Chancellor just appeared to rule out a universal minimum basic income | |||
| Wed 25 Mar 2020 | Scotland Office | Commons Chamber | Budget 2020: Scottish Block Grant 10 speeches (886 words) |
| Found: for additional support for self-employed workers and to move forward with the argument for a universal basic | |||
| Tue 24 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Oral Answers to Questions 127 speeches (9,535 words) |
| Found: system to roll out a universal basic income in these times?</p> <p>We | |||
| Wed 25 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Financial and Social Emergency Support Package 82 speeches (30,817 words) |
| Found: systems to put money directly in people’s pockets through a universal basic income, reverse national | |||
| Wed 25 Mar 2020 | Scotland Office | Commons Chamber | Oral Answers to Questions 57 speeches (4,440 words) |
| Found: for a universal basic income?</p> <p>The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point | |||
| Tue 24 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Contingencies Fund Bill 51 speeches (20,778 words) |
| Found: and welfare system to put money directly into people’s pockets through a universal basic income would | |||
| Tue 24 Mar 2020 | HM Treasury | Commons Chamber | Self-employed Persons: Financial Support 72 speeches (7,960 words) |
| Found: need is a simple system. About 40 years ago I suggested having a universal basic income to Mrs | |||
Questions
| Date | Title | Questioner |
| 26 Mar 2020, 9:48 a.m. | Personal Income: Coronavirus | Mike Hill |
| Question to the HM Treasury
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a universal basic income during the covid-19 crisis. Answer (Jesse Norman) The Government is doing whatever it can to ensure that individuals, families and businesses are supported during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government is focusing on measures that can be implemented as quickly as possible. The Government also believes that using existing frameworks for those who need additional support is the quickest and most effective way to do so during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government announced at Budget and in recent days, a wide-ranging package of measures to support individuals, families and employees affected by Covid-19. These include:
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| 26 Mar 2020, 9:48 a.m. | Personal Income: Coronavirus | Stephen Farry |
| Question to the HM Treasury
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a Government funded universal basic income as an emergency measure to protect incomes and livelihoods during the covid-19 outbreak. Answer (Jesse Norman) The Government is doing whatever it can to ensure that individuals, families and businesses are supported during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government is focusing on measures that can be implemented as quickly as possible. The Government also believes that using existing frameworks for those who need additional support is the quickest and most effective way to do so during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government announced at Budget and in recent days, a wide-ranging package of measures to support individuals, families and employees affected by Covid-19. These include:
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| 24 Mar 2020, 3:22 p.m. | Personal Income: Coronavirus | Colum Eastwood |
| Question to the HM Treasury
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in Northern Ireland on introducing a universal basic income scheme for the duration of the covid-19 outbreak. Answer (Jesse Norman) The Government is doing whatever it can to ensure that individuals, families and businesses are supported during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Government’s priority has been to focus on measures that can be operationalised as quickly as possible in order to provide support to those who need it. The Government has announced a wide-ranging package of measures to support individuals and families affected by Covid-19. These measures include:
While all welfare policy is devolved to Northern Ireland, the Northern Ireland Executive will be fully funded to deliver these measures and the Government expects them to replicate GB policy. |
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| 23 Mar 2020, 5:15 p.m. | Personal Income: Coronavirus | Ronnie Cowan |
| Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a basic income to provide financial assistance to people affected by covid-19. Answer (Mims Davies) As both the Prime Minister and Chancellor have made clear, the Government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID 19 and we have been clear in our intention that no one should be penalised for doing the right thing. These are rapidly developing circumstances, we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly. |
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Tweets
| Date | Department or MP |
| 26 Mar 2020, 5:32 p.m. | Martin Docherty-Hughes (Scottish National Party – West Dunbartonshire) |
| Universal Basic Income …!!! @Ianblackford_MP called for it this week !!! #COVID19 https://t.co/AU8qBWBg5x | |
| 25 Mar 2020, 10:23 p.m. | Karl Turner (Labour – Kingston upon Hull East) |
| Coronavirus means we have to put ideology aside and bring in a universal basic income @Independent https://t.co/xIKeuLUqRd | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 5:46 p.m. | Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party – Na h-Eileanan an Iar) |
| This is right 👇 Complexity will undo the UK Tory Gov! Universal Basic Income required! https://t.co/jm0NpMkw9b | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 9:36 a.m. | Jonathan Edwards (Plaid Cymru – Carmarthen East and Dinefwr) |
| Basic income far simpler and fairer. Interesting to see US move in this direction with a one off payment to families. https://t.co/YDW9ZZxjCj | |
| 27 Mar 2020, 1:40 p.m. | Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat – Westmorland and Lonsdale) |
| @stevehigson I’m not having a dig at anyone, I’m fighting the corner of my constituents. One way around this would have been – and still could be – a form of universal basic income. | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 5:54 p.m. | Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru – Ceredigion) |
| An emergency Universal Basic Income, as @Plaid_Cymru called for, would have overcome many of the technical issues that has delayed this scheme and that will continue to mean a delay in people receiving support. 2/ | |
| 25 Mar 2020, 1:58 p.m. | Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party – Inverclyde) |
| That would be a no from the @DWP regarding removing the 5 week wait for the first Universal Credit payment to be made to claimants. Another reason why a Universal Basic Income is vital right now! #COVID19 https://t.co/Kvh642wwOi | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 5:20 p.m. | Anne McLaughlin (Scottish National Party – Glasgow North East) |
| No no no no no!!! People CAN NOT wait till June for money. Great package but no help if you have been #selfemployed for less than a year and for those who benefit it’s not till June!! Universal basic income is the only solution. | |
| 24 Mar 2020, 1:03 p.m. | Ronnie Cowan (Scottish National Party – Inverclyde) |
| I asked the U.K. Govt whether it’s considered introducing a Universal Basic Income. People are looking for financial assistance and support now! #basicincome @cbinscot https://t.co/5vrWcwLcvz | |
| 23 Mar 2020, 10:15 a.m. | Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour – Salford and Eccles) |
| Not only is Govt support for the self-employed virtually non-existent, gig workers now threaten legal action against a discriminatory policy. We need real support now, like a universal basic income, so freelancers can protect themselves & those around them https://t.co/swDf5AuO4A | |
| 24 Mar 2020, 1:30 p.m. | Sir Edward Leigh (Conservative – Gainsborough) |
| We need a simple system to guarantee workers’ incomes for the duration. Decades ago I dared to suggest Universal Basic Income to Mrs Thatcher and got an earful for it. But something simple, universal, easy to roll out, and time-limited is worth serious consideration. https://t.co/tCDUXIvDBB | |
| 25 Mar 2020, 11:55 a.m. | Emma Hardy (Labour – Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle) |
| With 3.25million self-employed workers & 900,000 on zero hours, receiving very little support from the gov’t during this crisis, this could be the solution we need.#coronavirus Coronavirus means we should bring in a universal basic income | Alex Sobel MP https://t.co/6FxWd7vhes | |
| 27 Mar 2020, 2:07 p.m. | Marion Fellows (Scottish National Party – Motherwell and Wishaw) |
| The PM pledged parity between the self-employed and employees at PMQs – that rhetoric has failed to have been matched by the UK Gov’s measures. The UK Gov must introduce an emergency Universal Basic Income to protect people’s incomes in the face of the pandemic. #covid19 | |
| 25 Mar 2020, 3:23 p.m. | Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party – Glasgow North) |
| 📽️ It’s disappointing that the UK government have so far ignored calls for a universal basic income which would provide financial security to everyone, avoid thousands of people being laid off and ensure that no one slips beneath the cracks. #Coronavirus https://t.co/ZmHmHzivdN | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 6:42 p.m. | Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party – Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) |
| As we’ve said all along, folk need emergency support now. Not in 8-12 weeks time, if they can access it. Few folk have that kind of money lying around. The UK Government should introduce an emergency Universal Basic Income to protect people’s incomes in the face of the pandemic. | |
| 26 Mar 2020, 5:45 p.m. | Wes Streeting (Labour – Ilford North) |
| Already I’m receiving messages from people not covered by this scheme and facing real hardship. I honestly thing a basic income with clawback through the tax system would have been a more efficient way of helping people. The Treasury and DWP are obsessed with complexity. | |
The current Standard Universal Credit (the current benefit amount) for an adult over 25, if divided over full time working hours, would be about £4 including the rental component. Of this 53% of this £4 is paid to a landlord for rent. To put it another way, This leaves an hourly rate of disposable income of £1.94 from which to pay all costs of living. In the area where I live, a small village the price of taking a bus to the nearest supermarket is £3.50 return. There is also a certain ideological mind set at different centres of universal credit, which leads to a arbitrary cutting of benefits on a whim, without much logic and only a belief that those who are not in paid work should suffer.
Universal Basic Income would therefore be beneficial as it would get rid of this component of issues with living on the benefits income. The same ideological mind set puts forward another issue, that it is completely fine for 53% of the Universal Credit to be taken for housing, so the rent is always met no matter how unreasonable and greedy its recipient is, or how well off they are. This means that the tax bill ever increases, the poorest are asked to live on less, and the landlord component of the bill dissapears from sight.
Universal Basic Income is of little use, if the greater part of it goes to paying for housing. The obstacle to its roll out for all, is the unfair taking of wealth, via pricing of housing but not only housing. The same issue occurs when the wealth is taken via unfair pricing of incomes, goods or services.
On the Annual report of a 2019 Building society, the chief executive salary is reported as about 156.50 per hour. This ratio difference between this and a person re-ceiving Standard Universal Credit for an adult over 25, is £4 including the rental component. This is a ratio difference of 39:1 for those under 25 the ratio difference is higher.
Even if the benefits income were doubled, this would still create a income to price stretch effect. So common goods would be priced relatively similar levels for both executive and benefits income. However the benefits income would deplete all of their income to zero or likely a negative income as they go into debt. The executive on these items will pay a tiny proportion of their income for these items, thus increasing their spending power and surplus, i.e. a ever widening gap between the poorest and richest. If the prices rise, the lowest income will fall below the poverty line as they will not be able to afford average goods, if they fall, the levels of accumulation at the top of the incomes will increase. Therefore this difference between rich and poor is an instability factor, in addition to a barrier to survival for the poorest.
Finally, in one of the petitions there is a suggestion that the UBI be tapered upwards, so that people who have a higher income, would get a higher subsidy, up to £2400. This is a ratio difference of 4:1 on the standard benefits of a person over 25, and even higher on a person below 25. If the argument is that the cost of housing is higher, however we then return to the issue of pricing including rent pricing and price stretch.
There is also no argument for this approach, as the basic income should be designed in such a way to pay for the goods and services to allow a person to stay alive and at a basic level be able to keep from falling below the poverty line. Since the higher income recipient would be receiving this amount too, no person in the chain of supply ad payments can argue that they need their profit to survive. Not the landlord or the household. They can argue that they will have to forfeit luxury for a short time, however that is not the role of basic income. This will also allow prices to settle at affordable and common price levels.
The reality is that basic income is much needed, to handle periods of crisis, over production, exploitation and coercion of the poorest, and even working standards and use-value of production and work. However the interlinking problems are, Rent and housing must be a very small proportion of the cost of living, that wages must be in a ratio of lowest income to highest income that does not lead to price stretch or excessive accumulation, and that the general pricing of goods is priced fairly.