Introduction of Variable Tuition Fees
On 22 January 2003 the new Labour education secretary Charles Clarke published a white paper with proposals allowing universities to set their own tuition fees up to a cap of £3000 a year. The proposal was controversial as during the election campaign for the 2001 General Election their manifesto stated that Labour "will not introduce top-up fees and has legislated against them." The white paper stated that the fees would only be repaid once the graduate earned over £15,000 a year. The likelihood of a backbench rebellion from Labour MPs forced Clarke to introduce a number of concessions to the rebels in order to avoid a Commons defeat in a vote held on 27 January 2004. Amendments to the bill included an increase in the amount poorer students could claim in a maintenance grant, a promise to review the £3,000 cap after three years and the promise to write off all student debt after 25 years. Eventually the vote was passed with Labour winning by 316 votes to 311 with 71 Labour MPs voting against and 19 Labour MPs abstaining. The result provided relief for Tony Blair in what had been seen as his biggest test yet as Prime Minister. Education Secretary Clarke said "had we lost it, it would have been a blow to our authority but as it is we have the ability to take the legislation forward." The Conservatives shadow education and health secretary Tim Yeo said the result was an "utter humiliation" for ministers and said that the vote had only been won because of the votes of Scottish MPs who had voted to impose fees on English students which would not apply north of the border. The Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy said that "nobody has emerged from this shabby compromise with any credit." He added "it took a dodgy deal between the prime minister, the chancellor and backbenchers to get this Bill through." The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) however said before the vote that the plans were "essential" for the revitalisation of British universities. University vice-chancellors meanwhile had previously warned the government that universities were facing a shortfall in funding. In their submission to the governments 2004 comprehensive spending review, the lobby group Universities UK requested a further £8.79 billion, a figure it was feared would grow should legislation to increase tuition fees fail. Such was the level of underfunding, vice chancellors argued, and assuming that all universities would charge the full £3,000 a year, the measures would only "ameliorate, not solve, the funding crisis" recouping only £1.4 billion extra revenue a year. Michael Driscoll, chair of the Coalition of Modern Universities, said "Universities face a financial black hole, but the real black hole is in teaching. We do not have enough money to pay our staff."
Read more about this topic: Tuition Fees In The United Kingdom
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