Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been touted for years now by the Left as a solution for everything, and with the cost-of-living seriously biting across our country, its advocates may think it’s time has come.
The cause already has a foothold in Wales where the Labour Government started a basic income pilot for care leavers last month, with 500 individuals set to receive almost £40,000 over two years.
This scheme is opposed by the Welsh Conservatives for several reasons. Firstly, its nature as a pilot means there is a cliff-edge where in two years’ time, care leavers could have this new safety net they’ve shaped their lives around taken away from them.
This leaves them in a state where they are uncertain and dependent on their state to the point that they become too dependent. Labour have not provided enough clarity from Labour about the Welsh Government’s support regarding what will happen next.
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Labour has decided to give care-leavers hand-outs, rather than hand-ups, just as they did with carers who received a one-off bonus. It does not solve the underlying issues.
We believe long-term offerings like free bus and discounted rail travel for 16-25 year-olds, enabling Further Education to lead and create apprenticeships from all Welsh Government-funded major infrastructure projects, and the UK Government’s job Kickstarter scheme are much better placed to help care leavers.
These have a lasting effect that builds skills and gives people the confidence to be independent.
The lack of thought put into the basic income scheme is evident in the fact that it was not in Labour’s manifesto for last year’s election. It got left-wingers excited when Drakeford started to tease UBI until they targeted care leavers only. It’s also a pilot in name only. This scheme will not tell us anything about UBI’s effectiveness as the sample is too small to draw any conclusions.
But we know UBI doesn’t work – not just in terms of values and theory, but practice too.
UBI was tried in Canada and Finland. However, they were later scrapped because of spiralling costs. They found that it encouraged a lacklustre attitude to work and earning.
UBI would allow the very wealthy to receive a handout they don’t need and that hardworking taxpayers can’t afford to give. If the goal is to reduce poverty in Wales, this untargeted approach is a wasteful investment and mismatches priorities.
The UK saw a decrease in child poverty in the UK, but Wales’s child poverty actually increased in the last year. Labour should not consider it a solution because there is no basic income program in the country.
Let’s ask ourselves if the wealthiest people in Wales really require an extra wad of taxpayer money. Of course not, but this would be Labour’s policy if they expand this scheme to its universal end, further fuelling the fire of inflation and harshening the cost-of-living crisis.
This tax is not going to be imposed on care leavers, so why bother? Well, Mark Drakeford’s government is in the business of state-building, evident in its intention to introduce a tourism tax and pursuit of more politicians in Cardiff Bay by expanding the size of the Senedd without anyone in Wales having a say.
It is divergence from the desire to separate. It’s part of a wider plan to make Wales completely separate from the rest of our beloved United Kingdom.
The pilot will be used to launch that cause and set dangerous precedents for the Labour Government to give money without strings attached at huge expense to the hardworking Welsh taxpayer.
The scheme alone will cost £20 million and if extended across Wales, as many campaigners and supporters of UBI are pushing for, the costs will grow to an eye-watering degree. Labour Government admits that they don’t have the resources to roll this out.
Where will this money come when there are challenges in our public service and the living costs making it harder for everyone?
Over 65,000 people are waiting over two years for NHS treatment, our average pay is the lowest in Britain, children here missed out on more school days due to Covid than any other UK nation, and our transport infrastructure is a laughing stock, exacerbated by Labour’s roadbuilding freeze.
Basic income schemes are a brainchild of hard left academics. It would be a distraction away from tackling these immense problems. Made even harder by the Labour Government’s nationalist counterparts in Scotland who point fingers at others rather that accept the failures occurring under their watch,
Wales needs an environment that rewards productivity and not inactivity. The care leavers in Wales need real solutions, not a two-year bribe. Instead, government could provide extra support for care leavers to train in public sector jobs where there is a shortage of staff, like nursing.
Wales has limitless potential. However, we need a government to help the vulnerable by making lasting changes, future proofing, as well as finding creative solutions to solve each problem simultaneously.
A basic income scheme – universal or targeted – is not the answer.
