In her second #ConterManifesto column on big policy ideas for the left, Eve Livingston looks at the concept of Universal Basic Services and why this state-oriented approach might be preferable to the mooted Basic Income proposals...

In our fourth activist guide, we tackle the issue of benefit sanctions. Under this cruel system, people can have their entitlement withheld for as long as three years. The system has caused misery and hardship for thousands of claimants and their families. But how do they work? Why is it important we fight for their abolition? And how can we fight back?