Why Scotland has policy is for no tuition fees

Sir, Brian Gee really is getting himself into a pickle with his moth-eaten attacks on the Scottish government’s policy of no tuition fees for students.

Leaving aside the charge of hypocrisy levelled at a generation who benefited from free education but wish to pull up the ladder of educational achievement, Mr Gee is accusing the government of discriminating against English students.

The situation is absolutely clear. In Scotland, our government’s policy is ‘no fees.’ The English government’s policy is to make students pay, which is why a Scottish student attending an English university pays fees, and an English student attending a Scottish university pays fees.

As for EU students attending Scottish universities, Mr Gee seems to be unaware of the immense benefits in terms of research grants, funding, innovation and international contacts that increases Scotland’s economic competitiveness both globally and in Europe.

The irony is that Mr Gee’s opposition to Scottish independence is the reason why, within the UK, English students do not benefit from free tuition as other EU nationals do.

With both countries independent within the EU, free tuition would be accessible but the full English Brexit has killed it off.

Rest assured Mr Gee, if Scotland is forced to choose between our place in the EU as an outward looking and prosperous nation within the European mainstream, or as a parochial and isolated echo chamber to Mrs May’s Tory England, the inevitable second independence referendum will be triggered. And it will be Yes.