MSP Elena Whitham: Labour Government tuition fees hike

The Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon Valley representative claims that the move shows that only the SNP can be trusted to protect free tuition for students in Ayrshire.

UK Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson announced that fees will increase to £9,535 per year as a freeze on tuition fees which has seen them capped since 2017/18 comes to an end under Labour.

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Student Loans Company data shows students in Scotland leave university with the lowest levels of debt in the UK and an average of £31,790 less debt than students in England.

Figures released earlier this year show that a staggering 1.8 million people in England and Wales are in at least £50,000 of student debt.

Record numbers of students from our most deprived areas in Scotland are going to university due to the SNP’s continued support for free tuition.

Michael Marra, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson, hinted earlier in the year that the party would examine models to reintroduce some form of charges in Scotland whilst new Tory leader Russell Findlay talked last week about ending free tuition in his first major speech as party leader.

MSP for Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon Valley, Elena Whitham. (Image: MSP Elena Whitham) Slamming the decision, SNP representative Elena Whitham said: “Whether in Scotland, England or Wales, history has shown that under Labour governments, tuition fees go up - Labour simply cannot be trusted on tuition fees. 

"This latest increase by the UK Government will burden a whole generation of students south of the border with even higher levels of debt.

"Throughout their time in office, even Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson didn't go as far as raising tuition fees - that Keir Starmer has done so after only months in Number 10 shows exactly where his priorities lie.

“Under the SNP, we have record numbers of Scottish students securing places at our universities, and recent figures showed a rise in students from our most disadvantaged communities.

“This progress has only been made possible because the SNP abolished Labour's tuition fees when we came to office - and we will never let them be re-imposed on students in Ayrshire.”

When challenged on the policy, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Sky News: "I think the risk is if we didn’t put the fee price and the maintenance support up in line with inflation then students really would be sold short because the investment in their teaching wouldn’t keep up with rising cost pressures.

“So students may be sold short in terms of the quality of education, and of course the maintenance support wouldn’t rise and I think there are lots of students who are dealing with cost-of-living pressures like everyone else at the moment.”