Paid, Pacified and Going Nowhere - The Problem with Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income is something that we have been hearing about off and on for the past few years in the UK. In 2020 170 MPs and peers advocated for lobby for a Universal Basic Income to be brought into effect countrywide.

Poverty is nothing new to the UK, or the world.  Millions of Britons face fuel poverty with the ever increasing energy prices.  In 2022, 1047 people died as a result of living in a cold, damp home.  According to data from the House of Commons, 18% of Britons were in absolute poverty after housing costs in 2023/24.  This figure is on the rise.

In June 2023 it was announced that a Universal Basic Income trial was to take place over a two year period by think tank The Autonomy Institute.  Thirty people from the areas Jarrow and North East England and Finchley in North London would given £1600 a month (£1200 after tax) for two years, with no conditions attached; whether they were in work or not.  The results of this trial have not yet been released but the proposal details can be found here.

The trial is to see what effect this money will have on people’s physical and mental health. Whether that extra money can have an impact on the quality of life, see how that money is used and how people's lives changed as a result.

I believe that a Universal Basic Income (hereafter called UBI) is a terrible idea.  If I have learned anything about the way this country is going, moreover how it is being run, I know that UBI will not start, but will end as another element of control.

UBI sounds great in principle, reducing poverty, improve wellbeing and boost income security; but in reality, how would UBI play out?

Although the study as mentioned above is giving participants £1600 per month before tax, in all likelihood, a nationwide UBI would be something more like £400 per month.  This would come at a cost of £200 billion annually, more than the cost of the NHS.

Where would that money come from?  Tax payers.  Some of the same people who would also receive the money.  Higher income tax, VAT, National Insurance.  They would effectively be giving with one hand and taking from the other.

But also, how would UBI be placed in relation to other benefits?  Would Job Seeker's Allowance disappear?  Housing benefits would likely still have to be in play.  It would have to be.  Unless housing was completely reformed, and that is something we should not wish to contemplate.  I have visions of the tower blocks of the 1980s returning.

There is no benefit really to anyone receiving UBI.  The workers would be taxed more.  The people who do not work will receive less benefits and become poorer.  The workers will not be able to sustain funding UBI.

What I do know is that UBI will never be for the good of the people.  At first, it will seem marvelous.  More money!  But then, drip by drip, control of how that money will be spent will come to pass.  Eventually that money will not be money at all, but vouchers.  Then control of how you spend the vouchers.  No petrol for you, you drove 20 miles last month.  No red meat for you or double the cost, think of the environment.

What we know about the government, no matter who is in power, is that they have a game plan that has nothing to do with benefitting the people.  But don't look at the man behind the curtain.  Look, free money!  

Nothing in this life is free.

We live in a world where children no longer want to be astronauts or surgeons, they want to be streamers.  A world where a horrifying number of young girls are turning to Only Fans.  A world where AI will be replacing more and more workers.  A world where people converse online but say nothing to each other's faces.

All this is part of a plan.  What plan, I do not know.  But I know one thing, if the Government could convince a country to sing "Don't Look Back In Anger" after the bombing at the M.E.N, they are capable of anything.