{"id":7329,"date":"2017-12-31T11:12:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-31T19:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=7329"},"modified":"2017-12-31T11:14:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-31T19:14:25","slug":"scotland-united-curiosity-councils-trial-universal-basic-income","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/12\/31\/scotland-united-curiosity-councils-trial-universal-basic-income\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland united in curiosity as councils trial universal basic income"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Four local authorities tasked with turning utopian fantasy into reality with backing of first minister and multi-party support\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Grassmarket and Victoria Street in Edinburgh, where universal basic income will be trialled next year Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Libby Brooks<\/a> Scotland correspondent<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Universal basic income is, according to its many and various supporters, an idea whose time has come. The deceptively simple notion of offering every citizen a regular payment without means testing or requiring them to work for it has backers as disparate as Mark Zuckerberg, Stephen Hawking, Caroline Lucas and Richard Branson. Ed Miliband chose the concept to\u00a0launch his ideas podcast<\/a>Reasons to be Cheerful in the autumn.<\/p>\n

But it is in\u00a0Scotland<\/a>\u00a0that four councils face the task of turning basic income from a utopian fantasy to contemporary reality as they build the first pilot schemes in the UK, with the support of a \u00a3250,000 grant announced by the Scottish government last month and the explicit support of Nicola Sturgeon.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0concept of a universal basic income<\/a>\u00a0revolves around the idea of offering every individual, regardless of their existing benefit entitlement or earned income, a non-conditional flat-rate payment, with any income earned above that taxed progressively. The intention is to replace the welfare safety net with a platform on which people can build their lives, whether they choose to earn, learn, care or set up a business.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Thomas Paine. Photograph: Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The idea has its roots in 16th-century humanist philosophy. The political theorist Thomas Paine advocated a citizen\u2019s dividend. But there has been a groundswell of interest over the past decade not only among lateral thinkers but also anti-poverty groups, which see it as a means of changing the relationship between people and state, and between\u00a0workers and the gig economy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Scotland, a country wearily familiar with divisions of a constitutional nature, the concept of a basic income is almost unique in enjoying multi-party favour. Across the four areas currently designing basic income pilots \u2013 Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and North Ayrshire \u2013 the projects have variously been championed by Labour, SNP, Green and, in one case, Conservative councillors.<\/p>\n

Matt Kerr, who has tirelessly lobbied for the idea through Glasgow city council, said: \u201cReactions to basic income have not split along the usual left\/right party lines. Some people to the left of the Labour party think that it undermines the role of trade unions and others take the opposite view. But there should be room for scepticism; you need that to get the right policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advocates are aware such unity of purpose is precious and worth preserving. \u201cThe danger is that this falls into party blocks,\u201d said Kerr. \u201cIf people can unite around having a curiosity about [it] then I\u2019m happy with that. But having the first minister on board has done us no harm at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inevitably, Sturgeon\u2019s declared interest has invited criticism from her opponents. A civil service briefing paper on basic income, which expressed concerns that the \u201cconflicting and confusing\u201d policy could be a disincentive to work and costed its national roll-out at \u00a312.3bn a year, was obtained by the Scottish Conservatives through a freedom of information request in October. The party accused her of \u201cpandering to the extreme left of the [independence] movement\u201d.<\/p>\n