Author Archive

Angela Cummine

Angela Cummine is a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellow in political theory at the University of Oxford. Her research examines the democratic governance of state-owned assets and economic equality. She was co-editor (with David Marsh) of the inaugural edition of the Global Public Investor 2014 at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF).

The idea of a ‘citizen’s income’ has made a real splash on the UK political agenda. The new year started with the Green party announcing a universal, non-means tested weekly payment of £72 to every British adult as its flagship economic policy, only to drop it this week from the party election manifesto after the programme’s costing failed to withstand rigorous scrutiny. Despite this step back, the citizen’s income idea may still feature in the election debate, given calls late last year by key Liberal Democrats for a universal basic income to become official party policy. And while the Greens have distanced themselves from the policy for the duration of the election, Green MP Caroline Lucas has identified the scheme as a long-term …