Starmer refuses to commit to abolishing tuition fees in England

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has refused to commit to abolishing university tuition fees in England, saying the party had “a number of propositions” on the issue that would be put forward before the next general election.

Scrapping fees was a key plank of Labour’s manifesto at the last general election, in 2019, under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, and the policy was endorsed by Sir Keir during his successful leadership campaign the following year.

However, Sir Keir and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves have long been expected to drop the commitment which, along with the reintroduction of maintenance grants, was costed at £7.2 billion in the 2019 manifesto.

There have been suggestions that Labour may still look to scrap fees but, rather than fund universities directly from taxation, introduce a graduate tax instead.

Asked about the issue following a new year speech in London, Sir Keir indicated his distaste for the current system but declined to spell out what Labour would replace it with.

“University tuition fees are not working well; they burden young people going forward,” Sir Keir said. “Obviously we’ve got a number of propositions in relation to those fees that we will put forward as we go into the election

“But I have to be honest about it: the damage that’s been done to our economy means that we’re going to have to cost everything as we go into that election and we will do that with discipline, as we’ve done it so far.

“I’m not going to spell out our manifesto in advance…but I can say that every commitment we make will be absolutely fully funded. That’s a cast-iron guarantee as we go into that election.”

Matt Western, the shadow higher education minister, said last September that Labour was “very close” to announcing its higher education funding policy, and some thought an announcement might be made at the party’s conference later that month, but none was forthcoming.

Times Higher Education reported last June that opinions differed among sector policy figures as to Labour’s current stance on the idea of a graduate tax: some said the leadership was likely to go with it; others said it had already been dismissed as unfeasible.

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, has previously praised the Welsh model, where a Labour-led government kept tuition fees in place, but significantly increased maintenance grants for students.

Several policy experts have suggested that the likeliest outcome for Labour’s next manifesto might be the promise of a review of the issue.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com