Councillor: ‘Give virus payment to everyone’
CALL FOR GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE EMERGENCY INCOME FUND
PRESSURE is mounting on the Government to introduce an Emergency Basic Income to cope with the civil disaster of coronavirus.
Among the signatories to a letter urging the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to implement the plan is a Kirklees councillor.
Erin Hill, a Labour member representing Crosland Moor and Netherton, said an immediate cash grant to every adult and child would not only relieve the strain on families but would also aid local shops, cafes and pubs.
Support for a campaign to replace the current welfare system with what has been described as “a radical alternative” has been growing for months in Kirklees.
Clr Hill is among thousands of people from across the political spectrum backing the concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), a flat, regular payment made to every UK citizen throughout their life.
The campaigners’ letter this week to Mr Sunak comes as US politicians consider a bill that could lead to payments of $1,000 for adults and $500 for children.
At Prime Minister’s Questions this week, Boris Johnson said he would “certainly consider” introducing a basic income in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and offered to meet with MPs of all parties who have backed the idea.
“I know that councillors of all parties are stepping up and supporting their constituents, individually and as we organise support for the most vulnerable,” said Clr Hill.
“But we also have a duty to represent our residents politically, and promote their interests at the highest possible level.
“The coronavirus will have a colossal human impact. I know first-hand what sacrifices people are being asked to make, and how much they and their families are already being affected.
“It is unavoidable that this virus will cause suffering.”
However Clr Hill said economic hardship was “not inevitable” and that the Government had “a unique chance” to implement measures to see citizens through the crisis as well as making the aftermath easier and more sustainable.
She added: “An emergency UBI would cost far less than the bank bailout of 2008.
“And there is far more at stake – our lives and those of our loved ones.
“If one good thing comes from this pandemic, it should be a wholesale rethinking of how our society works, and in whose interests.
“COVID-19 has shown us that those in society our economy rewards least nurses, paid and unpaid carers, teachers, delivery drivers, supermarket workers, stay at home parents, grandparents, small business owners - are actually the foundation on which our society rests, and are now putting themselves at risk every day to keep our most vulnerable residents safe.
“So why are so many still reliant on food banks, Universal Credit and casual or zero-hour contracts?
“There are cross-party calls for meaningful change. And if not now, when?”