On the Introduction of a Basic Minimum Income

Anybody who has discussed economics with me has at probably some point heard me rant about how much I hate Basic Minimum Income. The fact is that its an idea that has never appealed to me and I am constantly surprised by how many people in the party either openly support or are receptive to the idea (with the Social Liberal Forum who I used to respect being its biggest proponents in the party). The policy of course seems nice and lovely with everybody in the UK being given a reasonable amount of money by the state on an ongoing basis in order to live their life without the requirement of employment.
The best argument that can possibly be made for Basic Minimum Income to be rolled out is in order to protect people and the economy from the affects of mass automation, but while I am extremely concerned about the affects of mass automation on the economy I am not convinced that Basic Minimum Income will be a necessity to solve the crisis then and it is certainly not required right now when the crisis doesn’t exist yet.
Another issue with the policy is that it is one of the most left wing, statist policies that someone could possibly imagine implementing, making the earnings of large swathes of the populace directly determined by the state. The problem with this however is that Liberals (and Social Democrats) and the Liberal Democrats as a whole are neither left wing nor overly fond of statism so it is a massive shift from the usual position of the Liberal Democrats to suddenly support a policy that is both of those things.
Some people have said to me that with Basic Minimum Income in play people would be free to develop themselves as individuals free of their often overbearing work commitments, something that very much appeals to me, and that they would be free to take on more charitable work, something that also very much appeals to me. The problem with these arguments again is that implementing Basic Minimum Income in order to carry out these objectives would be massive overkill and much more effective and inexpensive measure like more mandatory holiday time and subsidised charity work would be far better alternatives.
Apart from all of these objections on grounds of it being ineffective policy there is also the sheer economic impact of the policy. The implementation of the policy would without a doubt cause a rise in unemployment whether it be through people thinking not working is more worth it than working (which would admittedly be far less common than many on the right would have us believe) or through employers being unafraid to fire employees with the knowledge that they would be subsidised by the state. This increase in unemployment on top of the current unemployment statistic (which is actually very low further showing how unnecessary the policy is) would mean that the cost of this policy would be absolutely enormous and even with a massive tax increase would guarantee the barest of slim pickings for the remainder of the welfare state, the fact is that even if the policy worked in and of itself which it doesn't the economic problems are incredibly difficult to overcome.
