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Plans for Hull to trial Universal Basic Income have moved a step closer after the chief executive of Hull City Council wrote to the Chancellor.

Matt Jukes has sent a letter to Chancellor Sajid Javid asking for support as the proposal is assessed.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) would give every person a fixed, untaxed sum - which could be up to £100 a week - to live on, whether they are rich or poor, in work or unemployed.

UBI would replace some existing social security benefits and people can spend it how they like. For more information on the scheme and how it could work, click here.

Hull city councillors recently backed a proposal from Liberal Democrat councillor Paul Drake-Davis to explore the possibility of the city becoming the first place in the UK to trial UBI.

In the letter to Mr Javid, the council's chief executive said "key stakeholders" would now create a UBI steering group.

"The council will assist this group in bidding for funding in order to set up a UBI lab in Hull with the aim of successfully establishing a UBI pilot in the city," wrote Mr Jukes.

"We are aware that UBI labs have been launched in Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds and Kirklees, in order to explore the viability of the new policy idea in these cities and our elected members want to assess the viability of a similar scheme in our city.

"This proposal has also been referred to our Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee for further analysis and consideration.

"Council also requested I write to you, bringing this motion, and our considerations in relation to UBI, to your attention, to advise you that we are supportive of the idea being tested in Hull and to ask if there is any support that HM Treasury can give us as we begin our assessments of this proposal?"

Cllr Drake-Davis said UBI would have a number of benefits for residents.

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"I’m delighted that all parties on the council voted in support of the idea of establishing a pilot in Hull. We are calling for central government to pilot Universal Basic Income in this progressive pioneering city," he said.

“Here in Hull my Liberal Democrat colleagues and I see the problems residents face, the current welfare system is failing them. UBI will give residents the power to take control of their lives and free themselves from the worry of financial insecurity.”

Fellow Lib Dem councillor Jack Haines said: “This is a fresh policy idea that has the potential to change lives, but we need to trial it first. Hull has long been left behind by central government but it is an ideal place to test this innovative idea.

"We believe it offers everyone, especially hard-working people, freedom from poverty, insecurity and financial worry."

He added: "We will never support anything that makes working people worse off and evidence suggests that the UBI would mean working people are financially much better off and that’s why we want to look at this."

"Myself and peers would want a system of UBI that is either enough so people don't have to rely on benefits or simply a top up on the benefits they already have."

Watch: Benefit changes coming in 2020

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