Tuition fees: Labour pledges maximum cap of £6,000

 

Tuition fees were introduced by the last Labour government

The maximum university fee for students in England would be cut by a third under Labour, Ed Miliband has said.

If the party was in power now it would reduce the cap from £9,000 to £6,000 to ease the debt burden on students, the Labour leader told Andrew Marr.
It would be partly funded by higher interest on student loans for graduates earning more than £65,000 a year.
Mr Miliband - who voted against tuition fee increases last year - denied Tory claims the move amounted to a U-turn.
He said: "I don't think it is a reversal of policy, I think it is implementing a policy - we voted against the £9,000 tuition fee."
'Fast-buck economy' He said the government's planned cut in corporation tax would be scrapped for financial services and the highest-earning graduates would pay higher interest on their loans to pay for the policy.
As Labour gathers in Liverpool for its annual conference, Mr Miliband is attempting to present his party as being on the side of hard-pressed families struggling to maintain their standard of living amid the global economic downturn.

If they think this is going to be a manifesto policy, then I'm sorry - this isn't going to win support of students”

Liam Burns National Union of Students

 

Labour was trying to win the student vote following the Liberal Democrat decision to break their promise not to increase tuition fees.

However, she added that it was important for Labour that its sums added up because polls suggested people trusted the Conservatives and the coalition government far more with the economy.
Mr Miliband refused to guarantee that the tuition fee cap would be in Labour's manifesto for the next general election in 2015.
"It's something we would do now. It's something we are committed to - but the manifesto is three and half years away," he told Andrew Marr.
But he added: "If we can do more the time of the election, we will. But this is an important first step".
He said the policy was part of his plan to "change the way our country works" and end the "short-term, fast-buck economy" - a theme he said would dominate his set-piece speech to conference on Tuesday.
"I think we have got to put an end to the fast-buck era. I don't think the priority for Britain is to cut taxes for financial services - and it's a big choice and it's a big difference between ourselves and the government," said the Labour leader.
'Cynical' Mr Miliband said he wanted to use the party's week in Liverpool to set out an alternative to the "pessimism and austerity" which he claimed was being peddled by the coalition.
But Universities Minister David Willetts said Mr Miliband's call for a tuition fee cap made Labour's vote against fee increases last year look "completely cynical".
"Ed Miliband promised a graduate tax and now he's accepting fees have to increase to finance universities in tough times. So why should students trust anything he says? He says one thing to become leader and within a year does a U-turn," Mr Willetts said in a statement.
The president of the National Union of Students, Liam Burns, said Mr Miliband was "sorely wrong" if he believed students will back such a position at the next general election.
"If they think this is going to be a manifesto policy, then I'm sorry - this isn't going to win support of students," he said.
"Going into the context of a Parliament where the majority of people promised not to increase fees at all, to simply go back to a position of 'well, we're only doubling it,' well that's not quite good enough."
'Fantasy world' But Mr Burns said if Mr Miliband's announcement referred to what should be done immediately, he would agree with him "wholeheartedly".
Liberal Democrat MP Gordon Birtwhistle said Labour's plan to axe the planned cut in corporate tax showed they were "living in a complete economic fantasy world", as the companies that would be affected were potential employers of students.
"If you start increasing the corporation tax on companies, then it'll be cheaper to go to university, but there won't be any jobs to go into when they leave," he said.
Tuition fees were introduced by the last Labour government.
The current £9,000 maximum was introduced by the coalition government.
The Liberal Democrats have been accused by students of breaking pre-election promises not to raise tuition fees.