Labour and the Tories vote against free university tuition
Only the SNP can be trusted to stand up for students in Scotland – after the Labour and the Tories voted against a Scottish Parliament motion on free tuition, and Labour attempted to rewrite history by referring to a £2,000 charge as “free tuition”.
Labour MSP Pam Duncan Glancy claimed that Labour “introduced free tuition…and that position has not changed” – despite the fact that the fees regime when Labour was in government in Scotland including a £2,000 ‘graduate endowment’.
These claims aren’t just bizarre – they will be deeply worrying for young people in Scotland. If Labour consider a backdoor charge of £2,000 to be free tuition, the question they need to answer is if they would bring this back?
This follows the Times reporting that Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Michael Marra stated Labour would “find a new formula” on university funding and that “there’s lots of models across Europe…there’s post-hoc in terms of after the event, things that we had previously whether it be graduate taxes, whether it be endowments.”
Since the SNP abolished Labour’s backdoor tuition fees in 2007, the number of Scottish students entering university has grown by 31% and the number of students from our poorest backgrounds going to university is at record highs.
Students in Scotland can be assured that unlike the Westminster parties, the SNP will always stand up for the principle of free education.
Let me be clear – under this Government, there will never be tuition fees imposed on students in Scotland.
GRAEME
Education will be based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.
