Labour and Tory MPs gang up on oppose "Scrap Student Fees" motion (Birmingham Liberal Democrats)

Birmingham Liberal Democrats <info@birminghamlibdems.org.uk>

Labour and Tory MPs gang up on oppose "Scrap Student Fees" motion

September 15, 2004 5:34 PM

Michael Howard and David Blunkett trooped through the division lobbies together last night as Labour and Conservative MPs joined forces to reject a Lib Dem motion calling for the immediate abolition of all tuition fees and the re-introduction of maintenance grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income homes. The motion, which also condemned the new Tory policy of making students to pay for the abolition of tuition fees through higher interest payments on their loans, was defeated by 386 votes to 55.

Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson dais "Our fundamental criticism of both Conservative and Government proposals for higher education is the poverty of their vision of what higher education should be about. For both, our universities are to become little more than high-class employment exchanges, where degrees are valued by their market currency, where students are consumers and minority academic courses are to become the province of the wealthy. We as a party have set out our proposals and said how we will pay for them. Under our proposals, no students would end their university days with debts for fees and top-up fees. Next year the electorate will have a decision to make - whether to support two parties that have put our students into debt, or a party that wants to invest in them."

MOTION (EXTRACT): That this House… believes that fees and expanding student debt create significant disincentives for those considering university entry, particularly from less well-off backgrounds… notes the conclusion of the IFS and others that Conservative proposals penalise the poor in order to subsidise the rich… and therefore calls for the immediate abolition of all tuition fees, the re-introduction of maintenance grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income homes, and the development of a higher education system which brings together universities, further education and e-learning, opens up routes to vocational and technical as well as academic qualifications, and makes it easier for those who wish to study part-time.