What Starmer’s U-turn on tuition fees could mean for Labour

Will voters be put off by another abandoned pledge, asks Sean O’Grady?

3 May 2023 (Dave Brown)

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will drop his party’s pledge to scrap the present £9,250 annual university tuition fees in England if Labour win the next election. The policy applies primarily to England and students from England. In Scotland, undergraduate university education is free for Scots residents, fees are lower in Northern Ireland for “home” students,  and the system is slightly different in Wales.

What was the pledge?

When Starmer was running for Labour leader in 2020 he offered ten promises “based on the moral case for socialism” including: “Support the abolition of tuition fees and invest in lifelong learning.” The new leader, who’d served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, wasn’t ready for any radical U-turns on an established Labour policy popular with the membership.