King’s Speech

Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe Excerpts

Tuesday 19th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab)]

My Lords, we have already had three excellent maiden speeches from my noble friend Lord Hobby, the noble Lord, Lord Blackwater, and the noble Baroness, Lady Leaman. I am looking forward to our fourth maiden speech, that from the noble Lord, Lord Dixon; I am sure he will make it a great quartet. I congratulate everybody.

The King’s Speech proposed a number of really positive legislative changes to improve productivity and stimulate growth, offering much-needed hope. I think particularly of the Social Housing Bill, on which I will speak at Second Reading, as well as those on reform of water companies, tackling bureaucracy in the National Health Service, a defence housing service and calling out the awful antisemitism threatening our communities.

We have only one opportunity to speak at this stage, and I welcome the Government’s recognition in the King’s Speech of the central role education plays in driving economic growth, social mobility and national resilience, and their continued emphasis on skills, innovation and improving opportunity across the education system, including SEND reform. I will focus on higher education, an area in which the United Kingdom remains a global leader, and which is essential to the delivery of the Government’s ambitions for growth, productivity and international competitiveness.

Over the past year, the Government have taken several welcome steps to support the sector by increasing tuition fees in line with inflation for the next two years, by acknowledging the significant financial pressures universities face and by the retention of the graduate route visa to maintain the UK’s attractiveness to international students, who contribute enormously to our economy and society. It is also encouraging to see the ways in which universities themselves have recognised the need to evolve, to improve accountability and to ensure students receive genuine value and opportunity from higher education. In that spirit, I welcome Universities UK’s future universities programme, focusing on working closely with employers, communities and government while equipping students with the adaptability and resilience needed in a rapidly changing world.

Our universities are among this country’s greatest national strengths. They generate more than £265 billion in economic output, support hundreds of thousands of jobs, drive innovation and research, and anchor regional economies across the United Kingdom. It is a success story, but it is under strain. The current funding model is no longer sustainable. The value of domestic teaching funding has been steadily eroded in real terms over many years. Research funding is under pressure, with institutions increasingly forced to cross-subsidise research from other income streams. At the same time, uncertainty surrounding international student policy has increased financial instability for institutions that rely on overseas recruitment to remain viable.

This is not simply a challenge for universities themselves; if institutions weaken, the effects will be felt across our economy, our research base, regional growth and the opportunities available to future generations. The Education Select Committee’s recent report on higher education funding and insolvency rightly highlighted the urgency of these issues and called for a more strategic and sustainable approach— I echo that call today. The sector now urgently needs clarity on the proposed inflation-linked tuition fee mechanism.

There are ways forward, including practical steps the Government could take right now. They could protect the strategic priorities grant in real terms, supporting institutions with rising Teachers’ Pension Scheme costs, and maintain the balance of dual support for research funding. Ultimately, what is needed is a coherent funding settlement that recognises the full economic and societal value of higher education. Can my noble friend the Minister say whether she will urge the Government now to provide clarity on inflation-linked tuition fee uplifts and to set out a credible plan to secure the financial sustainability of our universities?