Join Sir Vince Cable and Vicky Pryce in discussing UBI with Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds.

Monday 21st September 7-8pm (UK BST)

Liberals from John Maynard Keynes to Paddy Ashdown have championed Basic Income. Liberals have historically been attracted to the potential power, freedom, choice that a Universal Basic Income would give to citizens.

Liberal Democrats are playing a leading role in the modern resurgence of the idea. Even before the COVID-19 crisis we saw Liberal Democrat councillors in Hull passing a motion calling on the city to pilot UBI and both Edward Davey and Layla Moran had UBI as part of their leadership campaigns. Christine Jardine and Alistair Carmichael have joined Wille Rennie in rapidly accelerating Lib Dem calls for UBI from Scotland and Welsh Leader Jane Dodds is at the forefront of growing cross-party support in Wales for UBI.

With Covid-19, UBI may just be an idea whose time has come. The pandemic has lifted the lid on widespread financial insecurity in the UK. For many – from freelancers to those on zero hours contracts – there is simply no meaningful safety net in place for times of crisis.

UBI could be set to become party policy as the Liberal Democrats will be voting on a UBI motion at their Party Conference on Friday 25th September. Ahead of that vote, the Basic Income Conversation and Lib Dems for a Basic Income are hosting a ‘fringe event’ asking ‘is UBI the big Liberal idea?’

Hosting the discussion will be Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats Jane Dodds. She’ll be joined by former party leader Sir Vince Cable and prominent economist Vicky Pryce. They’ll be debating the pros and cons of UBI ahead of the Conference vote later that week and particularly diving into the economic questions in relation to UBI.

You’ll get the chance to ask questions in a Q&A.

The event is free and open to all. Register here to get the Zoom details.