Conservative and Labour parties pledge to keep free uni tuition for Scottish students

The Conservatives and Labour parties have pledged to retain free tuition for Scottish students in their 2026 election manifestos.

The two political parties have clarified their stance on higher education fees in Scotland ahead of the Holyrood election scheduled to take place on Thursday 7th May 2026.

While Reform UK has declined to mention fees, Scottish National Party (SNP) is yet to release its manifesto.

The Conservative manifesto highlighted that “it should not be assumed that university is the only path to earning a decent wage” and “that there are lots of different exciting options available.” The party aims to reverse “real-terms cuts in college funding” so that “it matches the equivalent public funding received by a university to a similar degree.”

The Scottish Conservatives are currently polling at 11 per cent in constituency voting, behind SNP, Labour, Reform and the Lib Dems with the SNP in first place by 24 points. This puts the Conservatives on track for their worst ever election performance since the re-establishment of the Scottish parliament in 1999.

The signature SNP policy was first introduced by leader Alex Salmond, who cast the party’s promise in stone, unveiling a boulder at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University inscribed with “the rocks will melt with the sun before I allow tuition fees to be imposed on Scotland’s students.”

via Scottish Government under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Keeping tuition free for Scottish students has since become an increasingly divisive political issue. Opponents of the policy point to the fact that government funding per Scottish student lags far behind English and international students, making Scottish students appear unattractive amid what has been called a “crisis in university funding” by the Scottish Labour Leader, Anas Sarwar.

Last year, University of Dundee was forced to slash more than 600 jobs and risked insolvency without a £22 million bailout by the Scottish Government. Edinburgh University was also forced to reduce annual costs by £140 million. The Scottish Government has since commissioned a review into all aspects of university funding “except fees,” according to current higher education minister Ben Macpherson.

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The Conservative manifesto committed to “consider the findings of [the review]” and to “look at alternative systems that put Scottish students on an even footing when it comes to getting into universities in Scotland.”

The Reform manifesto by contrast was brief, at 17 pages compared to the 96-page Conservative document. Reform’s manifesto did not mention the existing review, instead proposing a new review “to ensure degrees are meaningful, value-for-money and grounded in genuine academic merit rather than EDI or sustainability metrics.”

A spokesperson for Universities Scotland said: “Scotland now has a joint process underway, in the form of the future framework between the Scottish Government and Universities Scotland, to look at how we can secure a sustainable financial future for universities for the next 20 years. In addition to government, we are pleased to have cross-party support for the process and have designed it so that students and trade unions are built-in to the governance structures.

“There’s a clear red line around retaining tax-payer funded undergraduate education for Scots and that will be respected whilst we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the sector with a shared determination to ensure Scotland’s universities remain successful for all who depend on them.”

In a recent statement, Edinburgh University’s principal, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson, said: “Looking across the country, it’s clear that the funding model for universities is under profound strain. In recognition of this, the Scottish Government and Universities Scotland have launched a review of the current and future funding of higher education in Scotland.

“However, we must also take action to address these urgent pressures. Our accounts show that costs are rising faster than our income. We have acted swiftly and decisively with a carefully planned approach that will deliver the recurrent savings required while seeking to avoid compulsory redundancies wherever possible.”

Reform UK and Dundee University have been contacted for comment.

Featured image via Unsplash