Bridget Phillipson has announced university tuition fees for the first time in eight years.
The Education Secretary said the cost for new students will go up from April 2025 to £9,535 – a rise of £285-per-year. Tuition fees have been capped at £9,250 for domestic students in England since 2017.
She said the controversial move was needed to “secure the future of higher education” – but insisted students will not see higher repayments as a result of the hike.
It comes amid a deepening financial crisis facing the university sector with inflation eroding fees and a fall in overseas students. Ms Phillipson said a succession of Tory ministers had “ducked” the difficult decisions “time and time again”, blaming them for a “shameful abdication of responsibility”.
But the left-wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome said: “14 years of Conservative governments have left our universities in crisis. Education is a public good that benefits our society. To invest in our future, the government should restore grant funding and abolish fees, not add to students’ debt.”
In opposition Keir Starmer dropped his 2020 pledge to abolish tuition fees saying his priority was to cut record NHS waiting lists. He said at the time: “Looking at the costing for tuition fees or abolishing them, looking at the money we need to put into the NHS, I’ve taken the decision that we can’t do both. That’s a difficult decision, I’ll accept that.”
In a break from Labour’s previous manifestos under ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s 2024 election blueprint did not included the vow to abolish tuition fees.
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Instead, it said: “The current higher education funding settlement does not work for the taxpayer, universities, staff, or students. Labour will act to create a secure future for higher education and the opportunities it creates across the UK. We will work with universities to deliver for students and our economy.”
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