Higher education funding: Cynical Labour are refusing to face up to reality

In an astonishingly cynical u-turn, the Scottish Labour Party has now pledged not to "introduce any up-front fees or graduate contribution for access to higher education in the lifetime of the next Parliament". This is despite earlier statements from Labour's education spokesmen that they would introduce a graduate contribution/

Liz Smith MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education & Lifelong Learning, said:

"This the stuff of fantasy. Labour are not living in the real world. After all they have said in recent months, today's move is an attempt to get them through the next few weeks until the election, rather than look after the best interests of our universities.

"Labour's education spokesmen are on record saying that a graduate contribution was 'inevitable'. They also criticised the SNP Government for being too slow with its Higher Education review, so for Iain Gray to say he wants another one is simply bizarre.

"Clearly, any sensible voices in the party have been drowned out by a desire to keep quiet, do nothing and say nothing about the challenges ahead, for fear it might cost them a vote.

"We are not going to do that. Students deserve better than to be duped by a gang of chancers who will say anything to divert attention away from the tough questions.

"We believe a progressive graduate contribution, repayable once a salary reaches a certain threshold at an affordable rate, is the only way of bridging the massive funding gap we will be faced with. Both Labour and the SNP appear to be working on discredited figures of £93m instead of the £200m Universities Scotland believes will need to be found.

"Labour have let everyone down today, not least Scotland's students, by refusing to face up to reality."

1) Des McNulty said a graduate tax in Scotland was "inevitable". He added: "There needs to be some sort of graduate contribution system. It is inevitable there's going to be some kind of contribution from the people who benefit from higher education."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/3288343/Graduate-tax-shock.html#ixzz1FeB4QAIp

ii) Des McNulty, the education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party, said he could not see how a significant funding shortfall could be addressed without a graduate contribution, but there is still no definitive statement from his party either.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/snp-green-paper-sparks-university-funding-row-1.1075010

iii) Des McNulty: "Scottish universities and colleges are now on the brink of a crisis, meanwhile, Mike Russell is playing roulette with the future of higher education"

http://www.holyrood.com/index.php?option=com_holyrood&func=article&artid=4489

iv) Claire Baker's amendment to the Scottish Parliament higher education debate on 30 Sept 2010:

"acknowledges the growing consensus among key groups within and outwith the university sector that recognises the need to examine the various graduate contribution options; calls for an urgent and independent review of institutional funding and student support".

2) Scottish Conservatives reject up-front fees, and we reject a pure graduate tax. We accept there is going to have to be a graduate contribution, repayable from future earnings and at an affordable rate.

Back to all posts