University staff overwhelmingly back Labour – with reservations

University staff are overwhelmingly planning to vote for Labour in the upcoming UK general election – albeit with a sizeable chunk still undecided – despite concerns that the party is struggling to articulate its vision for “saving” the sector, according to a Times Higher Education survey.

Sixty-four per cent of participants who have already made up their minds ahead of the 4 July election say they will opt for Sir Keir Starmer’s party, far more than the next most popular option – the Green Party – which received 12 per cent. The Liberal Democrats received 11 per cent and the Conservatives 4 per cent. Thirteen per cent of respondents say they are yet to make up their minds.

The poll – which ran between 11 and 17 June and received 194 responses – was self-selecting but provides a snapshot into the thinking of those who work in the sector as the election approaches.

Eighty-four per cent say parties’ positions on higher education will have some or a significant impact on how they vote, with these numbers higher among the undecided voters.

On policy priorities, there was widespread support for increasing public funding for universities and research as well as maintaining the two-year graduate work visa and reintroducing student maintenance grants.

Cutting tuition fees proved more divisive: 51 per cent support this idea, with 27 per cent against and 21 per cent unsure. Forty-five per cent think the UK should reintroduce student number controls at an institutional level, but 26 per cent oppose such caps.

While backing Labour in large numbers, many participants expressed little enthusiasm for the party and its ideas.

One said the election “has been the hardest decision of my lifetime” because of the “pitiful” support for higher education from both main parties. Another said they were “dismayed” that the crisis in the sector was receiving so little attention in the election campaigns.

But a desire to change the government appears to be the primary motivation of many voters. One said “universities have been ground down into the ground by 14 years of the Tories”, with another calling it “the most damaging period that I've experienced in over 30 years of working in higher education”.

While committing to “securing the future” of universities, the Labour manifesto released last week provided “no clue” as to how it would go about achieving this, said Diana Beech, the chief executive of London Higher, which represents universities in the capital.

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This meant that “we cannot be sure that Labour has ruled out measures to control the size of the sector, including the reimposition of student number caps on both domestic and international students”, she added.

The manifesto suggested a large-scale review of tertiary education was coming, Dr Beech said, “which could see an end to the regulatory system as we know it” but also raises questions about the sector’s record on social mobility if “strict grade requirements come into play as key access criteria for higher education”.

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Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said the party appeared to be “keeping all options open and not ruling anything out”.

“I think some movement on fees will likely be one of the issues on the table they are discussing, but what sort of change and on what sort of timescale, I think that is all up in the air,” he said.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com