Dr Guy Standing (Professorial Research Associate at SOAS, a founder and honorary co-president of Basic Income Earth Network and member of the PEF Council) is a world authority on basic income. He is the author of Basic Income as Common Dividends: Piloting A Transformative Policy, a report published by PEF and presented to Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonnell.
In the first of our fringe events at Labour Party Conference 2019, Guy Standing set out the case for a basic income in the UK, explored how pilots could be designed and responded to the common objections to the policy. Drawing from the arguments in his report for John McDonnell, Guy Standing argued a basic income could play a significant role in addressing the great challenges of our era – from insecurity to inequality to automation.
Guy Standing’s address was followed by commentary from Kweku Amonoo Quyst, Labour Party activist and Patrick Allen, Chair of PEF and subsequently by a Q&A session.