Paul Holmes MP for Chesterfield makes pledge to voters on student fees

Speaking in Parliament today at the National Union of Students 'Emergency Rally on Student Tuition Fees', Paul Holmes MP for Chesterfield opposed the whole concept of Tuition Fees.

Paul told the packed meeting;

"I have opposed Tuition Fees throughout.

"I opposed them in 1997 when the Labour Government first introduced them at £1,000 per year, after saying they had no plans to do so in the General Election just a few months earlier. I was a Head of Year 12/13 in Derbyshire then and saw the negative effect of Tuition Fees on my students.

"I voted against them as an MP in 2004 when the Labour Government increased them to £3,000 per year (now £3,225).

"I have opposed them for 8 years on the Education Select Committee. We heard of their negative effects when we visited Australia ten years after they first introduced the scheme that New Labour later copied.

"I oppose the new Tory/Labour plan to co operate in increasing them to anything up to £7,000 or more after the next General Election is safely out of the way.

"Fees deter some of the poorest from going to University. They push poorer students into cheaper and shorter courses. The repayment system charges Graduates in low earning professions exactly the same as Graduates in high earning professions and hits women the hardest (as they are more likely to take repayment breaks due to having children and so incur higher interest payments). Higher Fees and a true market will truly mean education according to ability to pay instead of education according to ability.

"We do not charge pupils for their education from 4 to 18 so why should we from 18-21? An educated population is an investment for the country. It should be paid for out of progressive general taxation not out of regressive fees.

"If that has to be a Graduate Tax such as the NUS are campaigning for then it should be a tax also paid by all previous graduates, such as myself, Gordon Brown or David Cameron who had a free university education courtesy of the taxpayer. It should not just be paid by future students."

ENDS

Notes to editors

1 Paul Holmes MP for Chesterfield today signed a pledge to voters ahead of the forthcoming general election that he will vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament.

2. Paul signed the pledge at a National Union of Students (NUS) event in Westminster today. Hundreds of students from across the country descended on Parliament to argue for a fair alternative to fees which will not price out poorer students.

3. On Monday, the Government announced the start of the long-awaited review of university funding, which will look at the impact of 2004's introduction of £3,000 'top-up fees' and will report after the next general election.

4. Today's NUS pledge reads:

"We will vote against any increase in fees in the next parliament, and we will put pressure on the Government to introduce a fairer alternative to variable top-up fees."

5. NUS President Wes Streeting said:

"The vast majority of the general public is against higher fees, and although this review has been set up to report after the general election, voters deserve to know where their MP stands on this highly emotive issue."

6. On Sunday, a YouGov poll commissioned by pressure group Compass revealed that only 12% of the public think the review should even consider increasing fees, while a majority believes that it should look at alternatives to fees.