Scottish Greens will move to Universal Basic Income
The Scottish Greens would begin a series of groundbreaking Universal Basic Income pilots in communities across Scotland and the UK, says the party’s co-leader Lorna Slater.
A Universal Basic Income is a mechanism that would provide everyone with a guaranteed income. It would mean a much simpler system without complicated means tests, cruel benefits sanctions and confusing rules, and would reduce the stress involved in the current system whilst tackling poverty and inequality.
This would be a cornerstone of a social security system that offered safety and dignity to all recipients.
Research from countries which have trialled similar schemes, such as Finland, show that recipients experience benefits such as improved wellbeing whilst not discouraging work. Yet efforts to trial it in Scotland have been hampered by the constraints of devolution and a lack of cooperation from the UK Government.
Ms Slater said: “There is nothing inevitable about poverty. The UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world but there are thousands of families struggling to make ends meet and parents being forced to skip meals.
“By taking steps towards a Universal Basic Income we can offer financial security and dignity to every person and family in our country and end the scourge of child poverty.
“A basic income would be a game changer in terms of tackling poverty, while also boosting health and wellbeing and removing so much of the stigma of our social security system.
“This generation of politicians has the ability to end poverty and build a society that we can be proud to hand down. But it won’t happen by itself. We need to be bold and ambitious and prepared to make the positive and transformative changes that will be felt for generations to come.”
In the meantime, the Scottish Greens would end the brutal two child benefit cap and bedroom tax, with a Minimum Income Guarantee, whereby the social security system will step in to ensure that everyone can meet a good standard of living.
Ms Slater said: “Over the last 14 years the Tories have run a social security system based on anxiety, insecurity and humiliation, and Labour is planning to keep the key pillars of it in place. It doesn’t have to be like this.
“With the limited powers of the Scottish Parliament we have begun to build a far more humane system, and introduced the groundbreaking Scottish Child Payment, which has lifted 100,000 children out of poverty. There is far more to do though, and with the powers of a normal independent country, we could start to chart a radically different course.”
