‘Citizens pay’ plan to give us all a handout

CONTROVERSIAL plans to pay everyone in Scotland a ‘citizen’s income’ are to be considered by MSPs.

Glasgow and Fife councils are reportedly prepared to pilot a scheme that awards each person in the country – whether in work or not – a ‘universal basic income’.

MSPs on the Scottish parliament’s social security committee are to investigate how the system could work in practice.

The idea behind the initiative is that everyone is given a basic amount of money to live on.

They can then choose whether to earn more through working, or opt to study, set up a business or care for relatives.

The move would be one of the most fundamental overhauls ever of the welfare system – and could cost taxpayers tens of billions of pounds.

The Scottish parliament does not hold the powers to introduce the scheme as large parts of the welfare system remain reserved to Westminster.

But Glasgow City Labour councillor Matt Kerr claimed it could be a way to simplify welfare.

He said: ‘It is also about solidarity – it says everyone is valued and the government will support you. It changes the relationship between individual and State.

‘If there is ever a case to be made then you need to test it in a place like Glasgow, with the sheer numbers and levels of health inequality. If you can make it work here, it can work anywhere.

‘It’s about having more than just enough to pay the bills. But part of the idea of doing a pilot is to make mistakes and find out what is acceptable to the public.

‘There will be a lot of resistance. We shouldn’t kid ourselves. Part of the problem is we’re working against a whole discourse of deserving and undeserving poor.’

The idea of a ‘citizen’s income’ has been touted by the Scottish Greens for several years.

The party has argued that each adult should receive £100 a week, or £5,200 a year, from the State, while children should get £2,600.

But others have suggested that the basic income should be much higher, at £15,000 to £20,000.

SNP members voted in support of the policy at their spring conference.

Nationalist MP Kirsty Blackman has suggested the citizen’s income should be £20,000 per person, which would cost £107billion a year. The UK’s total benefits bill, including pensions, is about £171billion a year – for a population ten times that of Scotland.

The Scottish Conservatives have previously called the idea ‘bonkers’.

But constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins yesterday said the proposal was ‘the sort of bold, radical rethinking of welfare we need’. He added that Holyrood’s social security committee would look into it ‘early in 2017’.

It has also won the support of the centre-Right Reform Scotland thinktank. In a report last year, it said the ‘welfare trap’ was a disincentive to work and that a citizen’s income could act as a ‘safety trampoline’ to encourage people to join the workforce.

All earnings would be taxed but the basic income would never be withdrawn, so work would always pay.

The idea is also backed by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Scotland, although it conceded there were questions about its funding.

The Scottish Government is consulting on the social security powers being transferred to Holyrood, which it describes as the ‘biggest transfer of powers since devolution began’.

In the consultation document, Social Security Secretary Angela Constance said: ‘We will get one chance to do things for the first time and I am clear that the first time we exercise our new devolved powers will set the standard for all that follows.’