‘We’ll scrap tuition fees’, swears Labour Party

They’re going to tax you when you graduate instead


A vote-hungry Labour party would scrap tuition fees and replace them with a graduate tax.

Ed Miliband’s party plan to cap fees at a maximum £6,000 a year and place an annual levy on wages.

Almost seven million students finish uni with up to £40,000 of debt with less than half will land a graduate level job.

According to the Sunday Times, student loans are never paid off in full by 45 per cent of students, leaving a £90 billion black hole by 2042.

Brazen Liam Byrne, the party’s higher education spokesman, said: “The system is unsustainable — university funding is falling off a cliff.

“We want to bring the cost down, but this has to be funded. The right long-term shift is a move to a graduate tax. [Our vision] does not include students graduating with £40,000 of debt.”

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There are concerns over funding the switch. But the Tories claim capping fees at £6,000 would cost upwards of £800 million. Some Vice Chancellors insist it will more likely top £2 billion.

University towns have the ability to swing the vote in almost 200 marginal constituencies. Party gurus for Labour see students as a crucial deciding factor.

Ed Miliband is expected to make an announcement on the issue within a few weeks. Labour see trebling fees to £9,000 as the coalition’s biggest mistake where they can pick up young voters.

The education secretary, Nicky Morgan, shadow chancellor Ed Balls and deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg could all lose their seats if students vote against them.

Nicky Morgan (left) could be ousted by a student vote

But hundreds could miss out on voting because they don’t register. The Labour party claim almost a million voters have vanished off the electoral roll in the last year due to changes stopping your uni registering you to vote  you have to do it yourself.

The Lib Dems blasted Ed for “political point scoring”.

A survey of 373 local authorities found an overall reduction of 950,845 voters: in London, the drop was around 100,000 voters.

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