Islington Council has this week [Thursday 10 Dec] passed a Green Party motion, amended by Labour, calling on the government to trial a basic income in the borough in response to the economic shock of the coronavirus crisis. It is the first London borough to do so.
The Council will now write to the secretary of state for Work and Pensions and the Chancellor to ask for a UBI trial in the borough of Islington after passing the motion this evening.
This comes just over a month after Labour Assembly Members did not vote to pass a motion put forward by Green Party AM and candidate for Mayor of London Sian Berry to call for a trial over the whole of London.
Green Party councillor and London Assembly member Caroline Russell said:
“Universal Basic Income is an idea whose time has come. As the Covid crisis deepens and Brexit looms, the need to provide security to every single person has never been greater.
“As we build back from this pandemic, it just makes sense to give people a non means tested payment providing the security of an economic floor below which they cannot fall. Not a safety net with holes, but a solid foundation upon which each and every person can stand and build from together.
“I hope that Labour members of the London Assembly will now take inspiration from their colleagues at a local level here in Islington and back a trial of Universal Basic Income for Londoners.”
