A few days ago Vince Cable launched his ideas on student finance, in many ways gaining favourable coverage in the press and from the NUS. It appears Vince had done the impossible in garnering support for a new method of student finance which was supported by voters, graduates and the NUS.
Now, a few days later, a senior Tory has declared the policy to be a non starter.
Isn't it nice to know that the coalition is a two way street where Lib Dem ideas and policies are accepted with the same amount of zeal as Tory ideas.
5 comments:
As serious numbers of our best graduates are already leaving the country, wouldn't such a tax encourage even more to do so?
It might also encourage more of the better students to seek places in Universities abroad (three of my friends have children studying abroad, one in France, one in the US and the other in Canada). Would these be liable for the tax?
The only way I would support such a tax is if it were paid directly to the University from which the person graduated - unfortunately we don't have the American ethos where high earners often make large endowments to their university.
Vince Cable's speech, reported as heralding his support for a graduate tax, contained the following, pretty minimal, sentence on the matter of finance:
"I am interested in looking at the feasibility of changing the system of financing student tuition so that the repayment mechanism is variable graduate contributions tied to earnings".
He later <a href="http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t3cmf/Newsnight_15_07_2010/>went on Newsnight (look about 28:30) and was quite keen to be cautious about the term "graduate tax" and made it clear that he wanted the payments system to remain one where payments are tied to specific institutions, not a general system of government funding of universities in exchange for a centralised graduate tax.
Today, a senior Tory says more or less the same thing, and it is reported in the tone which your posting adopts, Nich.
I put it to you that the facts don't actually fit your wailings. Or should we expect that you will simply run with the usual media bollocks about our party whenever it suits your anti-coalition position now?
Not everybody agreed as witnessed by this post on www.UnfitToGovern.info. Go to Blog and click on Education or copy the following into your browser
http://www.unfittogovern.info/2010/07/vince-cable-on-education-has-he-done-his-homework/
Now Lib Dems back scrapping of Agricultural wages Board
so we can pay farm labourers minimum wage from now on
very progressive
shameful
I presume you are retracting this piece now there are signs that the graduate tax is to go ahead?
Post a Comment