Tory Shaun Bailey, a sometime adviser to Boris Johnson, has again damaged his campaign to become Mayor of London by claiming people “would buy lots of drugs” if they were given a universal basic income.
Disaster: Shaun Bailey
It is the latest gaffe in a disastrous campaign run by Bailey, a Conservative member of the London Assembly.
Bailey made his comments during a debate about piloting the system in the capital. He said he had concerns about how “the human condition” was being overlooked.
Bailey’s critics called his claims “extraordinary” and “shocking”, but today his campaign organisers were unapologetic for the remarks.
“Shaun Bailey has over 20 years of experience as a youth worker,” a campaign spokesperson told BBC London. “He’s been homeless and he’s been out of work. So Shaun won’t take any lectures from career politicians on what life is like for those struggling to get on.”
The London Mayor elections are on May 6, with Bailey trailing in the polls by 21 per cent behind Labour’s Sadiq Khan.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan: 49%
Bailey’s campaign has been so embarrassingly poor that there is even a possibility that, under the proportional representation voting system, Khan could be returned for a second term as Mayor on first-preference votes alone, if he manages to win 50 per cent or more of the vote. The most recent polls had Khan on 49 per cent.
Universal Basic Income is a programme under which a periodic payment delivered to all citizens of a given population without a means test or work requirement.
In yesterday’s debate, Bailey told the Greater London Authority’s economy committee at City Hall: “I know some people who would absolutely fly if you gave them a lump sum every week. I know some people that would buy lots of drugs.
“So where is the care for the person? How do you get past just universally giving people money?”
Simon Duffy, a director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, said Bailey’s comment was “an extraordinary claim” and “quite shocking”.
Duffy said, “There is a myth that ordinary people don’t know how to spend money. It’s not just false, it’s clearly unproven.”
The committee voted in favour of trialling a UBI in London, although it will be up to individual boroughs to host the scheme.
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I note his leaflet (small booklet really) makes no mention of his being the Conservative Party candidate in the election, and doesn’t appear (from my quick perusal this morning) to mention the Conservatives at all.
I wonder why that is.
To be fair, perhaps he’s just saying wnat he would do
“To be fair”. Three little words which usually suggest that nothing that follows will be fair.
Isn’t this the man who wants employers to be forced to randomly drug test their workers? You’d think with the congestion charge running till 10pm etc Khan would be toast but then the Tories came up with this wally. He’s a dangerous fanatic. Probably even thinks random drug testing is “libertarian” too. Where do they get them from? He is a joke candidate. I think they want to lose.
Sadly joke candidates all too often win. We’re stuck with ours for another four years and the Americans have only just got rid of theirs.
Only to be replaced by another!