Can the UK economy afford to throw away £3.6bn?

Chi Onwurah

Newcastle upon Tyne is a great university town. When my father was a student there in the 1950s, it was known as King’s College, Durham. I do not know whether, as a Commonwealth citizen, he needed a student visa then but, if he did, I am very glad he acquired one.

My mother was a student at Northumbria University, or Newcastle Polytechnic as it was then. Born in Newcastle, she certainly did not require a visa, though given that she was in her 50s when she finally reached university, a university education was in many ways a foreign country to her.