Plan handy individuals £1,600 a month for doing nothing torn aside by Lord Frost
Lord Frost has torn aside plans for the first-ever trial of common fundamental earnings (UBI) in England.
Think tank Autonomy is looking for monetary backing for a two-year pilot programme which might see 30 individuals in Jarrow, in Tyne and Wear, and East Finchley, in north London, paid £1,600 a month in return for nothing.
The Tory peer branded the proposals “obviously laughable” and insisted the trial is “hardly going to tell you anything useful”.
But he warned UBI is “gradually moving from the fringe to the mainstream of left-wing politics”, including that “we need to rubbish it while we still can”.
Writing in The Telegraph, Lord Frost stated: “The clearest argument against a UBI is that it makes no economic sense.”
READ MORE: Backlash over ‘dreadful’ plans to hand people £1,600 a month for doing nothing
The former Brexit minister stated it could value an eye-watering £700billion a yr to pay all working-age Brits the quantity from the trial which might push taxes to “the highest in the world”.
Lord Frost stated: “The truth is that all UBI systems will fail. They will fail because no society is, and so far never has been, rich and productive enough to pay large numbers of its citizens to do nothing.
“And they are going to fail as a result of human nature is such that, if we’re paid whether or not or not we work, many people received’t.
“As a country, we don’t need more reasons not to work. There are already all too many incentives to do that.
“Instead we want encouragement to get out, get creating wealth and begin paying for our personal wants with actual financial exercise.”
Lord Frost’s comments come as the think tank has sparked controversy over its UBI proposals.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith branded it an “completely dreadful concept”.
Fellow Conservative Simon Clarke said: “It’s additionally the case that we successfully delivered an experiment with UBI with furlough and, whereas grimly vital, it’s honest to say the social and financial penalties haven’t been precisely ideally suited.”
Meanwhile, the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group warned it would be “extraordinarily expensive” if the initiative ever became a reality nationwide.
But Green MP Caroline Lucas insisted the Government can “not ignore” calls for UBI.
Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, said such a scheme “might be transformative for welfare on this nation”.
He said: “All the proof exhibits that it could immediately alleviate poverty and enhance hundreds of thousands of individuals’s wellbeing: the potential advantages are simply too giant to disregard.
“With the decades ahead set to be full of economic shocks due to climate change and new forms of automation, basic income is going to be a crucial part of securing livelihoods in the future.”