Dear oh dear. It now transpires that Starmer’s army will increase university fees in line with inflation from September next year, as announced by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in the Commons today. It’s the first hike to tuition fees in eight years after university payments have remained frozen at £9,250 a year since 2017 – and accompanies growing concern about the financial state of the country’s higher education institutions.
The move, which Phillipson says is the ‘first step’ to reform of the sector, comes after Russell Group universities complained that the tuition fee cap means that they make a £4,000 loss per UK student – and will be accompanied by a slight increase in maintenance loans to help students with living costs. However Steerpike remembers that raising university fees has not always been a Labour policy. In fact, when Sir Keir Starmer ran to be party leader, the politician insisted at the time that he wanted to abolish payments altogether. Just four years ago, the Labour MP ran on a campaign to ‘support the abolition of tuition fees and invest in lifelong learning’. So much for that promise, eh?
And it’s not just Starmer under scrutiny over the U-turn. Last year, the now-Education Secretary wrote an op-ed for the Times in which she promised university leavers a Labour government could ‘reduce the monthly repayments for every single new graduate’, adding that she hoped to ‘[put] money back in people’s pockets when they most need it’. With economists predicting that raising fees in line with inflation over the next five years could lead to costs reaching around £10,500 Mr S reckons prospective students and their families will not be best pleased by this volte face. After the outrage sparked by ex-Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg’s infamous U-turn on the issue back in 2012, Starmer’s Labour lot could be in for a rocky ride…
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