Labour reiterates pledge to scrap fees

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party, has set out plans for a National Education Service that include commitments to scrap tuition fees and reintroduce maintenance grants.

The report Towards a National Education Service was launched at the Labour Party conference held in Brighton between 24 and 27 September. It also proposed establishing a commission on lifelong learning to better integrate further and higher education.

In his conference speech, shadow chancellor John McDonnell called on chancellor Philip Hammond to “act now” before the tuition-fee system becomes unmanageable. He quoted an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which found that writing off tuition fees now  would increase debt by about £20 billion by 2050, while leaving it until 2022 would add about £60bn in debt in the long run.