Electoral dysfunction

Policy announcements on young people and universities are not moving the dial for the Tories

“You don’t have to go to university to succeed in life,” tweeted Rishi Sunak, somewhat randomly, at 3.49pm yesterday. It does help, though, if you study philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and have an MBA from Stanford.

The prime minister’s musings followed a day of electioneering dominated by Conservative plans to cut “low quality” university courses to fund more apprenticeships. Interestingly, the response has been mixed and not a straightforward beating for higher education from the usual suspects in the Tory-adjacent commentariat.