Jonathan Whitwam, who recently joined the Labour Party, works in finance and says, in addition to his mortgage, his biggest outgoing is supporting his two daughters through university. He and his wife, who live in Essex, pay their rent, which is around £18,000 per year.
His daughters will start their working lives with between £45,000 to £60,000 of debt each, plus interest, which will be compounding at £5,000 to £8,000 per year.
“I have no objection to paying for degrees as I think they are a great way of broadening horizons and having great life experience. But I think the interest should be waived or capped below 1%, otherwise it’s a noose around their neck for a substantial part of their lifetime.”
More generally, Jonathan, 52, would welcome taxes being put up for higher earners like himself in the name of “redistribution”. He would also like to see a one-off wealth tax for people with assets worth over £10m and new taxes on the oil and gas and banking sectors.
“If we want better roads, hospitals, schools we need to raise more tax.”