Labour backflip on tuition fees?

I thought you'd always been anti-Corbyn.

I have been, never liked him, but I wanted to give the Labour party a chance to win. My vote for Labour was not an endorsement of Corbyn.

Ah right, well that post is a little misleading in that case, you had me believing you'd been turned against him with this.

No it isn't, I regret voting Labour because they've U-turned on several key policies. I never liked Corbyn, but I thought he at least would tell the truth - he can't even do that.

It was not vague, Corbyn said he would deal with the burden of tuition fees for those students/graduates who have already accrued large debts. The implication was clear, that he'd write off loans - it was misleading and I was a fool to believe him.

NME: You’ve pledged to scrap tuition fees, which has gone down well. But it’s also kicked up a question for people who already have that debt, or people who are currently in university. What does it mean for people who’ve already been paying £9,000 a year?

JC: “First of all, we want to get rid of student fees altogether. We’ll do it as soon as we get in, and we’ll then introduce legislation to ensure that any student going from the 2017-18 academic year will not pay fees. They will pay them, but we’ll rebate them when we’ve got the legislation through – that’s fundamentally the principle behind it. Yes, there is a block of those that currently have a massive debt, and I’m looking at ways that we could reduce that, ameliorate that, lengthen the period of paying it off, or some other means of reducing that debt burden. I don’t have the simple answer for it at this stage – I don’t think anybody would expect me to, because this election was called unexpectedly; we had two weeks to prepare all of this – but I’m very well aware of that problem. And I don’t see why those that had the historical misfortune to be at university during the £9,000 period should be burdened excessively compared to those that went before or those that come after. I will deal with it.”

Here's what he actually said about it in an NME interview.

A report in The Telegraph yesterday claims Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said there are 'no plans' to write off student debt.

In a comment to The Student Room this week, Jeremy Corbyn stated:

Our young people have been held back by debt for too long. We will scrap university tuition fees so that everyone has the chance to go to university, wherever they come from.

What are your thoughts? During the election campaign, what was your understanding of Labour's stance on tuition fees? How do you feel about this now?

It was not vague, Corbyn said he would deal with the burden of tuition fees for those students/graduates who have already accrued large debts. The implication was clear, that he'd write off loans - it was misleading and I was a fool to believe him.

Could you link me up to that?

It was not vague, Corbyn said he would deal with the burden of tuition fees for those students/graduates who have already accrued large debts. The implication was clear, that he'd write off loans - it was misleading and I was a fool to believe him.



If there is another election soon and Labour does not firmly commit to the UK remaining a member of the single market then I will vote Lib Dem.

And make a tory government more likely? Great.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Don't tell me, tell Jezza to stop lying.

See above.

Don't tell me, tell Jezza to stop lying.

Boring. No where in the manifesto did they promise to scrap existing debt. If they did, please show me where it says so.

Instead you'll support Vincent's Cable who voted for the bedroom tax 6 times and trebled tuition fees.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Predictable Corbynite answer. The manifesto was deliberately vague, but please let's not pretend Corbyn did not strongly suggest that 1. Labour was the party of soft Brexit/staying in the single market and 2. that all tuition fee debts would be wiped. It's simply not good enough to say "it wasn't in the manifesto" – that's what the Tories say, I expect better from Labour.

There may be another election this year or next, if Labour is to win then they cannot be so vague this time, they must commit one way or the other.

Predictable Corbynite answer. The manifesto was deliberately vague, but please let's not pretend Corbyn did not strongly suggest that 1. Labour was the party of soft Brexit/staying in the single market and 2. that all tuition fee debts would be wiped. It's simply not good enough to say "it wasn't in the manifesto" – that's what the Tories say, I expect better from Labour.

There may be another election this year or next, if Labour is to win then they cannot be so vague this time, they must commit one way or the other.