Labour’s student debts betrayal
Party admits it can’t afford £100bn pledge
LABOUR was yesterday accused of lying to young voters after doing a U-turn on wiping out graduate debt.
Outlined by Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to the election, the policy is credited with boosting voter registration and the number of ballots cast for Labour.
But yesterday Angela Rayner, the party’s education spokesman, admitted there were now ‘no plans’ to pursue the idea, which would cost around £100billion. She claimed her party had ‘never promised to do so’.
Theresa May called on Mr Corbyn to apologise for misleading young voters, some of whom may have supported him on the debt issue alone.
During Prime Minister’s Questions she said: ‘The leader of the Opposition vowed to deal with student debt, Labour were going to abolish student debt, now they say it wasn’t a promise at all. Students know Labour can’t be trusted on student fees.’
Labour pledged in their manifesto to abolish university tuition fees, and the following month Mr Corbyn went further by suggesting all graduate debt could also be wiped.
He told music magazine NME: ‘There is a block of those that currently have a massive debt, and I’m looking at ways that we could reduce that, ameliorate that, lengthen the period of paying it off, or some other means of reducing that debt burden.
‘I don’t see why those that had the historical misfortune to be at university during the £9,000 period should be burdened excessively compared to those that went before or those that come after. I will deal with it.’
The interview was widely picked up by the mainstream media and was not challenged by Mr Corbyn. But during a tuition fees debate in the Commons yesterday, Mrs Rayner admitted Labour would not be carrying forward the plan.
She said: ‘We have never said we would simply write off all existing debt. We have no plans to write off existing student debt and we never promised to do so.’
Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith accused Labour of using students as ‘election fodder’.
He said: ‘During the election her party made it categorically clear to endless numbers of students that they would abolish the student debt.’
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell rowed back on the policy over the weekend, saying it was only an ambition, adding: ‘I don’t want to promise something we can’t deliver.’
Tuition fees are due to rise to £9,250 a year this September, with the government saying this is necessary to maintain a ‘sustainable’ sector.
Graduates who are on low incomes are still subsidised by the Government because student debts end after 30 years.
Universities minister Jo Johnson said wiping out all student debt – including reimbursing those who had already paid some off – would cost £103billion and increase the national debt by £3,500 a household.
‘Historical misfortune’
FOR countless graduates, Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to write off all student debt was the clincher that drew them to vote Labour last month. ‘I will deal with it,’ he said.
Six weeks on, his equalities spokesman has let the cat out of the bag. There was never an earthly chance that he could raise the £100billion needed to keep his promise, admits Sarah Champion. In other words, it was just a cynical lie.
But then isn’t the same true of the great bulk of Mr Corbyn’s fantasy manifesto? Next time he promises ‘free’ goodies all round, voters will be on their guard. AFTER a lifetime paying National Insurance, workers surely have the right to expect retirement at an age when they can fully enjoy it. But yet again, the state pension age has been put back, with six million more told to work to 68. When will ministers get the message that they waste far too much of our money, leaving too little for the necessities of a decent life?