Dai Havard

Labour Party | Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Top Up Fees For Universities - Not The Answer Says MP

Dai Havard MP and 14 other Labour MP’s all elected since 2001. Signed an open letter to the ‘Guardian’ newspaper (Copy attached) - opposing Top Up Fees for Higher Education funding as set out in the governments White Paper. This represents over half the Labour MP’s elected since 2001 and Six out of the Eight (75%) of those from Wales.

Dai Havard said:

”Top-up fees will only help create a two tiered university system. Scrapping ‘up front’ fees is a good idea but what the ‘policy wonks’ don’t address is what puts working class students off going to any university is the prospects of large debts. We need to widen access not narrow equality of opportunity.

“Re-introducing some maintenance grant is great but we don’t know how they will fit with the Assembly Learning Grant. What would be the costs if Wales decided not to charge the fess and England did? Who would pay and how would it extend participation? The Welsh Office and Assembly apparently can’t answer these sorts of questions. More powers would have to be devolved to Wales but that hasn’t been discussed with me either!”

“Education is a great personal liberator but it benefits us all. I am more inclined to paying from general taxation but interested in seeing what the cost of a Graduate Tax would be. At present the White Paper looks more like an ultimatum than consultation. So ‘open the books’ and let’s see the real costs and affects and see how we can not just ‘get more in’ but really widen access an involvement.”