Third Round of Schools Mace Debating Competition

On Friday 28th February, Chloe, Cathy and Charlotte competed once again in the Schools Mace Debating Competition, this time against schools from all over the West Midlands. Their challenging motion was, ‘This house would introduce a Universal Basic Income’, proposing the motion against King’s High School, Warwick. Universal Basic Income, as mentioned in the Labour Party’s 2019 manifesto, is a governmental public programme for a periodic payment delivered to each individual in a country. Chloe opened the debate, putting forward a well-considered plan to fund Universal Basic Income through removing the current benefits system, as well as taxes on robotics and personal data. She mentioned the stigma and bureaucracy which makes the current benefits system unfair and expensive. Cathy described the many advantages of Universal Basic Income, such as allowing individuals to follow their creative passions rather than working for the sake of survival. Finally, Charlotte had to respond to questions from the audience, including the alternative suggestion of a guaranteed job for each person, and concerns over the potential for increased unemployment. Although not selected for the national final, the girls all argued extremely well, and should be very pleased with their success.