BURSTTory leader says proposal would ‘protect interests of taxpayers and students’ but university representatives say it is ‘economically illiterate’
Good morning. Kemi Badenoch is giving her first speech a Conservative party conference as leader. There are many people who assume it will be her last.
The Tories face an existential challenge from Reform UK. While Badenoch has tried to differntiate the party from Reform UK, mainly be stressing her commitment to fiscal responsibility and cutting public spending, her main rival, Robert Jenrick, seems to be adopting the opposite approach – essentially adopting Nigel Farage’s outlook wholesale.
While many young people still benefit from university, too many are being pushed towards a degree as the only route to success, even as evidence has mounted that for too many it leads to poor job prospects and high debt …
Analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies finds that “total returns [on going to university] will be negative for around 30% of both men and women”. Many graduates earn so little they never repay fully their student loans, leaving the taxpayer to cover over £7 billion in unpaid debt every year in England alone …
This is an economically illiterate policy; no country has ever grown by slashing university places. Nonsensical ideas such as this come as no surprise from the party that crashed the economy, and fortunately, have no hope of being enacted, as the Tories will not be winning an election anytime soon.
The way to deal with the student debt burden is through a return to public funding, this could be paid for with a wealth tax, so those who benefit the most from getting a degree contribute more.
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