Charlie Mullins OBE

A Universal Basic Income Will Never Work

Well done Ryan Bourne, the common sense speaking economist who has well and truly blown the crack-pot idea of a universal basic income (UBI) out of the water!

In every area of society there are disruptors and those that go against the grain. I never thought I would find one in the world of economics, but I’m glad to be proven wrong!

Ryan’s the chair of something called the Public Understanding of Economics at the Cato Institute. No, me neither. What he isn’t is some deluded university graduate think-tank member or vote grabbing politician trying to peddle a dream of racking in sixteen hundred quid a month for doing sweet fanny all.

Financially unworkable

For those who’ve missed this fairytale, think tank Autonomy has pulled out the begging bowl to try and fund a trial in two parts of the UK – Jarrow in the North East and East Finchley in North London – where 15 people from each area would receive a guaranteed £1,600 a month for two years.

Writing in The Times, Ryan lays out how financially unworkable this all is, if it was to give every adult in the country £19,200 a year. He explains it would increase the government’s budget to about £1 trillion, which is nearly doubling government spending.

Eye watering levels of tax

And how would this be paid for? Well, out of our taxes of course, which undoubtedly would have to be hiked to eye watering levels. But here’s the other flaw in this Looney Tunes-level plan. Who’s going to be paying these taxes when a large chunk of society is pocketing their UBI?

We’re already at the thick part of the thin end of the wedge with the four-day week crew and the working (Less) from home zealots, who want the cash for less graft. For some, a universal basic income would be pennies from heaven raining down on them as they lay on the sofa watching morning TV.

I hope that the consultants with their economic degrees and little life experience sit up and pay attention to ‘one of their own’ and let Ryan’s words sink in, ‘a pure UBI of the form advocated remains infeasible’.

Skilled people into the workforce

If they want to make a difference to society with their number crunching and statistical crystal ball gazing, then they should apply themselves to the real problem we face – how do we get more skilled people into the workforce.

Applying the same metrics to a trial of apprenticeships would demonstrate the power of on the job learning and the benefits it brings to society and the economy more than dolling out free cash in a way that will ruin the country culturally and financially.