Labour to scrap tuition fees for students starting in September

Jeremy Corbyn announces plans to abolish
£9,000-a-year charges – including for EU undergraduates in UK

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In a speech later today, leader Jeremy Corbyn is to say that
Labour will “lift this cloud of debt and make education free for
all as part of our plan for a richer Britain for the many not the
few”.

In addition, the party will seek deals with EU nations to
provide free education for foreign students in return for the same
treatment for Britons studying abroad.

If the plan was put into action, students starting a new course
in September this year would have their first year’s £9,000 fees
written off retrospectively in order to encourage them not to defer
their course a year.

Students already at university would not have to pay from 2018,
meaning those starting the final year of a course in September this
year would be the last to pay for their degree.

Announcing the policy alongside Angela Rayner, shadow education
secretary, Corbyn will say: “The Conservatives have held students
back for too long, saddling them with debt that blights the start
of their working lives.

“We will scrap tuition fees and ensure universities have the
resources they need to continue to provide a world-class
education.

“Students will benefit from having more money in their pockets,
and we will all benefit from the engineers, doctors, teachers and
scientists that our universities produce.”

In response, the Conservatives have said that more people from
less-well off families and backgrounds are going to university now
than ever before, reports the BBC.

Former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, who dropped his party’s
manifesto pledge to abolish tuition fees while a member of the
coalition government, also criticised Labour’s plan.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning, he said
that instead of wanting “loads of free stuff”, young voters want to
talk about Brexit. He added: “I personally think it is the wrong
choice now [to drop fees].”

His comments were met with accusations of “hypocrisy” on social
media, says the Daily Telegraph, adding that in 2010, Clegg had
said: “I really think tuition fees are wrong.”