Higher and Further Education

Gareth Johnson Excerpts

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

The right hon. Gentleman’s party went into the 2010 general election promising to scrap tuition fees at a time when they knew the country faced a difficult economic situation, so I am afraid that he cannot escape his own record by looking to much older Parliaments. We are talking about the burden of debt that this Government have placed on students, which is much more significant than anything they faced before.

[Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)]

Does the hon. Lady not agree that there is something inherently right about those who benefit from having a degree paying for it?

[Shabana Mahmood]

The principle that those who benefit should pay a contribution towards their degree is absolutely right and one we support, but we believe that paying for higher education should be a partnership between the individual student who benefits and the taxpayer, who also benefits greatly from those going into higher education.