Free housing, food, transport and access to the internet should be given to British citizens in a massive expansion of the welfare state. Doubling Britain’s existing social housing stock with funding to build 1.5m new homes, which would be offered for free to those in most need. A food service would provide one-third of meals for 2.2m households deemed to experience food insecurity each year, while free bus passes would be made available to everyone, rather than just the over-60s. The proposals also include access to basic phone services, the internet, and the cost of the BBC licence fee being paid for by the state.
Former senior government official Jonathan Portes and academics from University College Londonsaid the raft of new “universal basic services” using the same principles as the NHS would cost about £42bn, which could be funded by changes to the tax system by amassive reduction in the personal tax allowance from the current rate of £11,500 to as little as £4,300 to pay for the changes.
The universal basic services report suggests the private sector, charities or the state could operate the new raft of benefits. The value for an individual using all services would represent £126 of net weekly earnings, which would also stand to benefit the poorest in society most.
I think this would also lead to a cut in wages and benefits, a bit like the effect of UBI.
And many have suggested if the momentum for socialism grew, the capitalist state would institute such similar free services to divert the movement into reforism