Basic Income Pilot

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 7 December 2022.

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Photo of Janet Finch-Saunders Janet Finch-Saunders Conservative 1:38, 7 December 2022

Minister, a number of my constituents in Aberconwy have raised concerns that, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, you still continue to pursue the idea of a universal basic income. UBI by its very nature is a hugely costly experiment and is no substitute for a genuine decarbonisation plan. Only this morning, we took evidence in committee, whereby the decarbonisation of homes across all sectors is going to be a very costly thing for the Welsh Government to implement. When it comes to UBI, Welsh Government Ministers frequently reference the experience of other countries. However, in Ontario in Canada, the provincial Government there cancelled their basic income pilot scheme in 2018, citing it as a waste of taxpayers' money, and, in Finland, trial results of UBI given to unemployed people found no statistical difference in work status between the recipients and the control group. So, this actually refutes the entire argument that UBI helps people into employment, or that it even helps workers to transition into other work. In light of these results, Minister, will you clarify what lessons you have learnt from these failed UBI schemes around the world, and will you do a u-turn on this, please?