DEPUTY Scottish Labour leader Alex Rowley has backed a policy which would give every Scot a modest wage for life.

Rowley spoke in favour of universal basic income (UBI) during a conference at the weekend exploring the system, which is being piloted in parts of Finland, Canada and Switzerland.

Work is ongoing to develop trials in Glasgow and in Fife after the pro- posal received widespread support from participants in an anti-poverty initiative in the latter area last year.

Rowley, a former leader of Fife Council, compared resistance to the idea to that faced by campaigners for the welfare state more than 70 years ago. “For many people back in the 1940s that idea would have seemed like utopian, and unworkable, for it was bold and new and ambitious in its drive to tackle poverty,” he said.

“Today, in 21st-century Scotland, in Britain and in a global world, we have to be equally bold and ambitious in our drive to create a more fair, more just society.

“The citizen’s basic income is not a new idea, but it is in my view an idea whose time is coming and I am pleased that Fife Council is showing great imagination and leadership in both promoting this and agreeing to enable a pilot.”

About 150 people took part in the conference in Kelty, Fife, on Saturday, including the SNP MP Ronnie Cowan and the Scottish Greens co-convener Maggie Chapman. Both of their parties support the policy.

Under UBI, welfare benefits such as child and tax credits and state pensions are replaced with an unconditional flat-rate payment regardless of whether the recipient is in work or not.

Any money a person earns above the payment is taxed at either a single flat rate or through a number of progressive taxation rates.

Opponents say UBI would encourage people not to work, but supporters point to the modest level of payments and say the policy has the potential to create a fairer and less complex welfare system, build a more family-friendly society as well as provide a solution to the consequences of job losses because of the increased automation in the workplace.

Supporters also believe it would save on administration costs from a complex welfare system and prevent benefit fraud.

Under a two-year, nationwide pilot scheme, which began on January 1, some 2,000 unemployed Finns aged 25 to 58 will receive a guaranteed sum of €560 (£475) per month.

The levels for the Fife and Glasgow pilots have yet to be set, but figures proposed by the Royal College of Arts in its research on the policy last year suggest, on the basis of 2012-13 prices, payment levels for most adults could be around £3,692 a year, while the over 65s would get £7,420.

Parents would be paid between £2,925 and £4,290, depending on a child’s age and number of children in a family. The Fife trial could be in place within three years.

Professor Mike Danson, of the Centre for Research on Work and Wellbeing at Heriot-Watt University, told the Kelty conference: “The principle has been well tested in terms of theories of economics and inclusion. Now we need to take the opportunity of pilots in Fife and Glasgow to test it in the real world.”