26.09.11
Labour would reduce tuition fees cap
Labour Leader Ed Miliband has claimed that if the party was in power now, they would reduce tuition fees for students to a cap of £6,000 a year.
Miliband told Andrew Marr that this would be partly funded by requiring graduates earning more than £65,000 to pay higher interest on their loans.
Labour voted against tuition fee increases last year, and some have criticised this move as a ‘u-turn’ in policy. The party has been accused of breaking promises not to raise tuition fees in the past, as it implemented top-up fees in 2004 despite a manifesto pledge not to do so ahead of the 2001 general election.
On the latest policy suggestion, Miliband said: “I don't think it is a reversal of policy, I think it is implementing a policy - we voted against the £9,000 tuition fee.”
When questioned about this policy being included in the party manifesto in 2015 for the next general election, Miliband did not guarantee the reduction. He said: “It's something we would do now.
“It's something we are committed to – but the manifesto is three and half years away. If we can do more at the time of the election, we will. But this is an important first step.”
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