The campaign against the Bank of England’s ongoing theft of Venezuelan gold is gaining support across the labour movement and beyond, writes MATT WILLGRESS
Latest editorial
Universal basic income – the fad is over
The lived experience of disabled people is the final nail in the coffin of the once-trendy concept of univeral basic income, writes ELLEN CLIFFORD
The new Prime Minister must abandon decades of automatic support for US foreign policy, which makes us all less safe, argues DIANE ABBOTT MP
Claims that Nicaragua has abolished elections followed a headline that stripped Daniel Ortega’s remarks of their historical and political context. The full speech tells a different story, says BECCA RENK FOSTER
Media Lens at 25: David Cromwell and David Edwards reflect on a quarter-century of media criticism, explaining why independent journalism is more important than ever
MAT COWARD introduces some of the electoral oddballs of the political fringe who remain one of the liveliest features of British democracy, despite efforts to abolish them
by Weyman Bennett and Maz’s family
UNIVERSAL basic income (UBI) — a regular cash payment made to individuals without means-testing or conditionality — has been described as an idea whose time has come, supported across the political divide from free market libertarians to leftwingers attracted to the idea of emancipating the working class from wage labour.
Disabled people, as one of the groups at the sharp end of “welfare reform,” are not convinced that UBI can deliver the solution so desperately needed to fix the social security system.
A new report from Disabled People Against Cuts argues that the introduction of UBI could further disadvantage those who have suffered the most since 2010.
Although UBI pilots in India produced positive outcomes for disabled people, these tell us little more than that giving money to people with nothing is a good thing. Meanwhile, there is no precedent for replacing a complex, targeted social security system such as we have in Britain with a UBI.
Even the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and World Bank, which are in favour of using UBI to ameliorate trends in the modern labour market such as rising job insecurity, reduced obligations on employers and lower wages, concede that it isn’t feasible to introduce it to Britain.
Existing benefit levels are so far below a guaranteed minimum income level here that it could only be financed through steep tax rises.
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MPs back measure for 66-year-olds but it won't end suffering, groups say
A new report from the Citizens Advice destroys the government narrative about disabled people ‘choosing’ not to work, showing the £3,000 annual cuts will create a two-tiered system based on claim dates rather than needs, writes DYLAN MURPHY
