Universal basic income in the United Kingdom

Basic income has been discussed in United Kingdom for much of the 20th and 21st century. A British organisation promoting and analysing the idea is The Citizen's Income Trust. British political parties with basic income on the agenda are Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish National Party, the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Socialist Party, while Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is said to be a supporter of basic income.

History

Speenhamland

The Speenhamland system was a form of poverty relief in England at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. It started in the village of Speenhamland, but soon spread to most parts of the country. William Pitt the Younger tried to have the system implemented nationally but failed.

1920s and 1930s

C.H. Douglas, an early British proponent of basic income and monetary reform.

Even though basic income and related ideas had been proposed a few times before the 1920s, it was not until then that a social movement seems to have started around the idea. Valter Van Trier has described this movement, which started in United Kingdom, in his book Every One A King.

The idea of basic income was revived prominently by Dennis Milner and his wife Mabel Milner in their pamphlet Scheme for a State Bonus: A rational method of solving the social problem published in 1918. Following this publication, the so-called "State Bonus League was formed in july of the same year. The League pushed the idea inside the Labour Party, which dedicated several hearings at the National Congress in 1920 and 1922, but the idea was eventually rejected.

At the same time Major C.H. Douglas, a British engineer and social philosopher, developed a new economic philosophy which he labelled Social Credit. At the heart of the philosophy was a firm belief in the importance of individual freedom, but also that the monetary system had to be changed so that the market system could function properly. In short he combined monetary reform and basic income.

1940s

The Beveridge report, published in 1942, stated that social insurances should be the main system in society for economic security. Besides that the report also proposed a selective system for those without access to social insurances. Beveridge himself did not like means-testing and selectivism, because it created high marginal tax rates for the poor, but he nevertheless thought that it was a necessary complement. After the war the "Beveridge-model" became the guiding principle for the welfare state, both in Britain and internationally. Lady Juliet Rhys Williams proposed the "New Social Contract" as an alternative to the Beveridge Report. In short she proposed basic income in the form of a negative income tax, except that she also recommended a work test.

1950s-2000

In 1972 the Cabinet of Edward Heath put forward a proposal for a tax-credit scheme which resembled a citizen's income in some ways but did not cover the whole of the population. In 1979 child benefit which is a citizen's income for children in all but name was introduced.

2000-

Guy Standing, a British author of several basic income books

The Child Trust Fund, a system related to basic income, was introduced 2005, but after a political debate it was cancelled out for newcomers in 2011. Guy Standing has continued to publish books with basic income as a key part, most notably The Precariat: the New Dangerous Class (2011) and The Pracariat Charter (2014).

At its spring 2016 conference, the Scottish National Party backed the principle of a universal basic income to replace the current welfare system.

Academic debate

Several British academics have been engaged in the basic income debate.

• James Meade, a left-leaning economist and winner of the 1977 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, took part in the basic income discussion from time to time. In his last books Full Employment Regained and Agathopia he returned to the question.
• Guy Standing has been very active in the debate since the 1980s. He is now especially well known for his theory about the so-called precariat, a new social class which he thinks is growing because of globalization, and that this development is yet another strong argument for why basic income should be implemented.
• Carole Pateman, a British political scientist, has declared that she sees basic income as a fundamental human right. For the system to reach its full potential, however, it is important that the level is not set too low.

Basic income in British politics

A system of basic income is supported by the Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party. For a period the Liberal Democrats also accepted it as official policy, but they have since modified their support.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell is said to be a supporter of basic income and on 16 February 2016 said that universal basic income is "an idea we want to look at". Writing in The New Statesman on 17 February, Labour MP Jonathan Reynolds argues in its favour, (1) as a policy for coping with "inevitable but fundamental economic change," (2) as an alternative to "the bewildering complexity of our welfare system" when "people move frequently into and out of work", and (3) as a "platform from which [people] might fulfil their potential."

Organisations

"The Citizen's Income Trust promotes debate on the desirability and feasibility of a Citizen's Income by publishing a newsletter and other publications, maintaining a library of resources, and responding to requests for information."

See also

• Ailsa McKay
• Basic income
• Basic income around the world
• Basic income in the United States