Income

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Manifesto Commitment: Universal Basic Income for All

Introduction

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a transformative policy aimed at providing financial stability and security for all citizens, eliminating poverty traps, and fostering a more equitable society. This manifesto commitment ensures that UBI provides a foundation for a stable existence, covering essential needs from cradle to grave.

Key Objectives

1. Eliminating Poverty Traps and Mental Health Strains
   • Universal Coverage: Implement UBI as a right for all citizens, eliminating the fear and stress associated with means-tested benefits.
   • Stability and Security: Provide a stable financial foundation that ensures access to basic necessities, reducing the mental health burden associated with financial insecurity.
2. Adequate Financial Support
   • High Enough Rate: Ensure that UBI is set at a rate that covers the cost of adequate housing, food, heating, utilities, and education.
   • Basic Rights: Recognize UBI as a fundamental right that guarantees a stable and dignified life for everyone, regardless of employment status.
3. Targeted Health Benefits for the Disabled
   • Supplementary Support: Maintain targeted health benefits and additional support for individuals with disabilities to address their specific needs.
   • Holistic Approach: Combine UBI with specialized programs to provide comprehensive support for the most vulnerable populations.

Implementation Steps

1. Setting the UBI Rate
   • Needs Assessment: Conduct thorough assessments to determine the cost of living and set UBI at a rate that ensures all essential needs are met.
   • Regular Adjustments: Adjust the UBI rate periodically to reflect changes in the cost of living and ensure continued adequacy.
2. Universal and Unconditional
   • Eligibility: Ensure that UBI is universal and unconditional, removing the stigma and stress associated with means-tested benefits.
   • Automated Distribution: Implement a streamlined, automated system for distributing UBI to all citizens, ensuring efficiency and minimizing administrative burdens.
3. Complementary Programs
   • Health and Disability Benefits: Continue providing targeted health benefits and support services for disabled individuals to complement UBI.
   • Education and Training: Offer additional programs for education and job training to help individuals pursue personal and professional development.
4. Monitoring and Evaluation
   • Impact Assessment: Regularly monitor and evaluate the impact of UBI on poverty rates, mental health, and overall well-being.
   • Data-Driven Adjustments: Use data and feedback to make necessary adjustments to the UBI system, ensuring it continues to meet the needs of all citizens.

Justification

1. Economic Security and Well-being
   • Financial Stability: UBI provides a consistent financial foundation, allowing individuals to plan for the future and make long-term decisions.
   • Mental Health Benefits: Reducing the stress and anxiety associated with financial insecurity and the fear of losing benefits improves overall mental health and well-being.
2. Eliminating Poverty Traps
   • Encouraging Work: By being universal and unconditional, UBI removes disincentives to work, enabling individuals to seek employment without the fear of losing financial support.
   • Reducing Bureaucracy: Simplifying the welfare system with UBI reduces administrative burdens and the need for repeated verification cycles, which can be detrimental to mental health.
3. Empowerment and Opportunity
   • Increased Autonomy: UBI empowers individuals to make choices that best suit their needs and aspirations, fostering a sense of autonomy and self-worth.
   • Access to Opportunities: Providing financial stability allows individuals to invest in education, training, and entrepreneurial ventures, contributing to personal and societal growth.
4. Social Equity
   • Fair Distribution: UBI ensures a fair distribution of resources, helping to reduce income inequality and promote social cohesion.
   • Support for Vulnerable Populations: While UBI benefits everyone, it has the most significant impact on those who are economically disadvantaged, lifting them out of poverty and providing a pathway to a better life.

Conclusion

Universal Basic Income is a foundational policy that guarantees financial stability and security for all citizens, eliminating poverty traps and reducing the mental health strain associated with means-tested benefits. By providing a high enough rate to cover essential needs and complementing it with targeted health benefits for the disabled, UBI ensures a dignified and stable existence for everyone. This approach fosters economic security, mental well-being, and social equity, creating a more just and prosperous society.

We are committed to implementing a universal basic income for every citizen of the United Kingdom, with the intention that net amount should be sufficient to keep a person of any age housed, fed, connected and recreationally fulfilled.

We promise to make this a payment for every citizen with no means testing and no exceptions, no get-out clauses, no withdrawal of income for refusing to work or having more than two children or protesting at demonstrations. The basic income will be one of a citizen's rights.

UBI is a regular fixed equal payment to each UK citizen from birth to death.

We assume that a new child puts pressure on a family to require additional housing space; that a dependent child needs childcare to free parental time for productive (though not necessarily employed) engagement; that the child's educational career is paid from his UBI resource alongside all their other needs.

We also assume that at the other end of life UBI fully replaces the existing state pension.

By providing this level of unconditional support to everyone, regardless of age or life stage, this UBI promise aims to address some of the key financial pressures and inequalities that individuals and families face throughout their lives.

Nelson Mandela wrote that “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones”. Our commitment to leave no one behind underpins our social policy, without which adopting AI into the workforce becomes extremely problematic. Making employment an option, but attractive as additional income for those who choose to seek it, offers a credible path toward a healthy nation.