
Alastair Thompson: The Augar Report’s proposals for student loan reform are a big step backwards
The Government should not be heaping what amount to extra taxes on those just getting by. For progressive change, ministers must look elsewhere.
The Government should not be heaping what amount to extra taxes on those just getting by. For progressive change, ministers must look elsewhere.
Charging the same amount for different courses does not make sense. Fees should be slashed, but with the threshold for repayments lowered.
The second in a three-part series of contributions from the ‘New Blue Book’.
In an era when it is harder for young people to buy a house, or even just to pay rent, it makes sense to direct more help to them than older people who already have one.
As the Conservatives anxiously mull their prospects with younger voters, shouldn’t they think a bit more about the two-thirds who don’t go to University?
As possibly the only Brexiteer in the Parliamentary Party’s One Nation group, I am also only too aware that this message must be accompanied by a successful EU negotiation.
Successive governments have ducked the question of which degrees are actually public goods worth spending taxpayers’ money on.
We have allowed our enemies to infiltrate almost every power centre that matters and delegitimise our very existence.
There is not enough cross-pollination between the education sector and employers. And careers advice must be dramatically improved
The next manifesto might propose breaking the link between student maintenance costs and parental income by introducing a universal loan.
That the Opposition are willing to risk alienating key supporters even whilst preparing for an early election shows how dangerous they think this policy is.
Doomsday predictions remain overblown, but the real, specific concerns of business are worth listening to nonetheless.
The Party should propose a radical shake-up of this system in which we aim to break the link from parental income to the overall loan.
The opportunity for young people to gain high-level work related skills would also help bridge the social divide between those who have a degree and those who do not.
It is perfectly possible to govern well and enact great change with very little legislation. In fact, it can even be a blessing.