The Lib Dem party supports the idea that a Universal Basic Income is smart economics. On 25 September the Liberal Democrat conference has decided with a massive majority of 715 to 250 votes to campaign for Universal Basic Income. The party leader Sir Ed Davey states ‘ The UK is one of the strongest economies in the world, and yet our economic system leaves too many people without enough money to meet their basic requirements and fails to value properly vital unpaid work like caring. …. This isn’t right. It isn’t fair. It doesn’t line up with our values as Liberal Democrats. … We need to build a system that works for everyone. ‘ You can read his full statement and find the party motion here. You can read background information from the Lib Dems for Basic Income and a political analysis in the Independent ‘Lib Dem members expected to commit party to universal basic income in vote at online conference‘.
Let us hope that this Lib Dem party decision will also be the first step to a political coalition to transform the archaic and at best proto-democratic and at worst pseudo-democratic electoral “First past the post” system. Instead we should demand “One person one vote one result”!