A UBI minus increases poverty – the services it would cut are much more important to solving income inequality – comprehensive reviews of programs prove.

Yet many in the labour movement have been unsure how to approach the topic. This is why our trade union federation, Public Services International (PSI), has been working with the New Economics Foundation to produce a detailed labour analysis of the issue. Examining 14 trials from India to Alaska, the report found that although UBI trials provided valuable insights into the nature of work and welfare there is little evidence to suggest that UBI is the best tool to address the core challenges of our time: inequality, wealth redistribution, precarious work and digitisation. What the studies do demonstrate is that giving cash payments to the poorest helps improve their lives and does not increase wasteful spending or laziness as many right-wing politicians would have us believe. This gives strong weight to the argument that our social welfare system needs an overhaul: we must do away with punitive activity testing and demonisation of the poor. Choices inevitable But government spending is inevitably about choices—and, compared with funding better universal, quality public services, UBI doesn’t stack up. Providing a single mother with a cash payment to fend for herself in an inflated housing market is not as effective as providing quality public housing. Giving people more money to fill up their cars is not as progressive as offering free public transport. When it comes to UBI, the models that are universal and sufficient are unlikely to be affordable, and models that are affordable are not universal. The International Labour Organization estimates the global average cost for UBI, as a proportion of gross domestic product, would be 32.7 per cent. Current global average government expenditure is 33.5 per cent of GDP. Until we manage to dramatically increase public revenue—something which the mega-rich have been fighting tooth and nail—then it is clear any UBI programme would necessitate huge cuts to key public services. Whilst many in the UBI movement point to administrative savings and preventative measures generated as a result, there is little evidence these will be enough to fund the UBI, considering the large amounts of funding that will still be required to finance public health, education and infrastructure. The fact is free public services, such as health and education, are one of the strongest weapons in the fight against inequality. They benefit everyone in society, but the poorest most of all. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, publicly provided universal services give the poorest the equivalent of an extra 76 per cent on their post-tax income and are strongly progressive.