PLEDGE TO VOTERS ON STUDENT FEES

Mike Gapes MP for Ilford South has signed a pledge to voters ahead of the forthcoming general election that he will vote against any increase in student fees in the next parliament.

Mike Gapes signed the pledge at a National Union of Students (NUS) event in Westminster on 11 November. Hundreds of students from across the country, including representatives from Universities and Colleges in London , descended on Parliament to argue for a fair alternative to fees which will not price out poorer students.

Last Monday, the Government announced the start of the long-awaited review of university funding, which will look at the impact of 2004’s introduction of £3,000 ‘top-up fees’ and will report after the next general election.

The NUS pledge reads:

“We will vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament, and we will put pressure on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative to variable top-up fees”

Mike Gapes MP said:

“ When the Government brought in the present system four years ago they only gained my reluctant support by a clear commitment that there  would be no automatic further increase in fees. I benefited from a system of grants and no fees and I want a system of student finance that allows people from poor and working class backgrounds like me to get to the top universities. I will oppose any attempt by the “Russell Group”  to bring in an American style system of student fees. Under Obama the Americans are at last beginning to move to our system of universal health care. It would be bitterly ironic if we were to now move to their elitist and discriminatory system of educational finance”

NUS President Wes Streeting said:

“The vast majority of the general public is against higher fees, and although this review has been set up to report after the general election, voters deserve to know where their MP stands on this highly emotive issue.

“I am delighted that  Mike Gapes has stood up for students and young people in Ilford South by signing this pledge. He has demonstrated his determination to give every young person in Ilford a fair chance to go to university.

“NUS believes that a university education should be free at the point of use, with graduates giving back to the system according to how much they earn. This would give universities double the amount of funding they currently receive, while allowing the children of poorer families to go to university without the fear of debt. It would also prevent the emergence of a market in higher education, where only the rich could afford to attend our most prestigious universities.”

On Sunday, a YouGov poll commissioned by pressure group Compass revealed that only 12% of the public think the review should even consider increasing fees, while a majority believes that it should look at alternatives to fees.

For more on the NUS campaign: http://www.nus.org.uk/