Labour is planning to abandon its pledge to abolish university tuition fees, Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking on Tuesday morning the opposition leader said the party was preparing to “move on” from the commitment.
Sir Keir personally committed to scrapping tuition fees when he stood for the Labour leadership in 2020, including the policy in his list of pledges.
It also featured in the party’s 2017 and 2019 Labour manifestoes under Jeremy Corbyn.
Asked about the policy on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the Labour leader said:
“We are likely to move on from that commitment because we do find ourselves in a different financial situation.”
But Sir Keir said the current system was unfair and that the party would in the coming weeks, “set out a fairer solution”.
“We are looking at options for how we fund these fees. The current system is unfair, it doesn’t really work for students, doesn’t work for universities,” he said.
He added that he did not “want that to be read as us accepting for a moment that the current system is fair or that it is working”.
Sir Keir has faced criticism for dropping a number of pledges he made when he stood for the leadership.
Among policies dropped by the Labour leader since he took over are free movement with the EU, raising taxes on the top 5 per cent of earners, and taking utilities into public ownership.
Challenged in February over the about-faces he said the pledges “haven’t all been abandoned by any stretch of the imagination”.
Tuition fees are currently capped at £9,250 under a system introduced by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition in the face of student protests.
University was free for full time students until 1998 when fees of £1,000 were introduced by Tony Blair’s government.
In 2006 Labour then tripled fees to £3,000, and they were tripled again by the 2010 coalition government.
Labour’s 2019 manifest pledged to “end the failed free-market experiment in higher education, abolish tuition fees and bring back maintenance grants”.
Earlier this year the party’s elected student committee voted to back free education as a policy and said abandoning the policy would be a “massive betrayal”.
Fabiha Askari, vice-chair of Labour Students, said: “Just two months ago Labour’s democratically-elected student wing voted for the abolition of tuition fees and the restoration of free education.
“With our higher education system in crisis, young people saddled with high rent and massive debts, this policy is more urgent than ever before. We urge Keir Starmer to listen to the voice of students, keep his word and recommit to the abolition of tuition fees.
“Anything less will be seen by young people as a massive betrayal of our futures, and risks alienating Labour from our party’s own core vote.”
Left-wing campaign group Momentum said ditching the plans would lead to a “Nick Clegg moment” for Sir Keir – referring to the tanking in popularity of the Liberal Democrats after they broke their own pledge on tuition fees.
“This move wouldn’t just fly in the face of party democracy and the wishes of Labour Students. It would be a betrayal of millions of young people in desperate need of hope. The Labour Leadership should learn from Nick Clegg’s failure, not repeat it,” the spokesperson said.
“Keir was elected on a promise to abolish tuition fees. With higher education in crisis and young people facing a future of high rents & even higher debts, this pledge is more urgent than ever. Trust matters. Young people matter.”
