Labour has sparked fury from students after announcing it plans to hike up university tuition fees – despite Sir Keir Starmer pledging to scrap the fees when running to become party leader.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced on Monday that tuition fees in England would rise in line with inflation from September 2025.
It will mean the annual price of a degree will increase from the current £9,250 to £9,535 from next year.
When running for party leader, Starmer doubled down on the promise to abolish fees all together but ditched the policy while in opposition last year, announcing that Labour would “move on from that commitment because we do find ourselves in a different financial situation”.
One student slammed the rise as “a joke”
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Speaking to GB News, students have shared their frustration at the U-turn from Starmer, having promised in the past that Labour would not increase the fees.
One student said: “Universities have definitely called for budgets to go up and the fees to go up, which they have done. So I think it didn’t really come as a shock to me when I heard the news.”
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Another fumed: “Obviously, it wasn’t their plan originally. So it’s a bit of a joke.
“I feel like most people think that they’re not going to pay their student fees off, including the maintenance loan and the tuition loan.
“Obviously the Tories, they increased it to 40 years instead of 30 years.
“Then they also lowered the like cap for when I’m going to start paying it off.
Another explained that it is “not fair” and may discourage people from going to university
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“So I’m going to be paying way more than I would if I went to uni a few years ago.”
A third claimed: “It is not fair. I feel like it’s not allowing people to get a higher education.
“It is not giving as many people as fair chance. So I think again it might just be hindering some students wanting to come to university.”
In July, Phillipson ruled out tuition fee rises saying after that Labour had “no plans” to increase them.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson announced the rise yesterday
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She said that the rise was to “restore stability to higher education.”
She said: “It is not a decision that I want to take, but I am determined to secure the long-term financial sustainability of our world-leading universities.
“Increasing the fee cap has not been an easy decision, but I want to be crystal clear that this will not cost graduates more each month as they start to repay their loans.”
