Tories Confirm Their Plan to End Free Education in Scotland

Unfunded Colleges Commitment Leaves Students in the Dark
Commenting on confirmation from the Scottish Tories today (Sunday) that they would end free higher education in Scotland, George Adam MSP – Member of the Education and Culture Committee of the Scottish Parliament - said:

“This announcement from Ruth Davidson confirms that a vote for the Tories in May is a vote to end free higher education in Scotland.

“The Tories claim that their colleges policy will be funded ‘in its entirety’ by a graduate contribution – but without any detail about how much students would be expected to pay, or exactly when they would have to start paying it, their colleges policy has absolutely no credibility.

“It is also completely unacceptable to leave young people considering going to university in the dark about what it will cost them.

“The Tories have taken a wrecking ball to higher education in England - as long as there is an SNP government in Scotland, education will never become the market-driven, wealth-determined lottery it has become south of the border.

“With Labour all over the place on university tuition fees, and the Lib Dems almost wiped out because of their broken promises to students - it is clear that only a vote for the SNP in May’s election can safeguard Scotland’s proud tradition of free higher education.”

Embarrassment as Labour Wipe Out Entire Education Policy

Scorn has been heaped upon Labour as it emerged that the entire education section of their website has been hastily deleted and replaced with an error message following the abandonment of the promise Labour previously made to students not to introduce tuition fees.

It was revealed at the final First Minister's Questions of the parliamentary term that despite having abandoned the promise Labour had previously given to students not to return to tuition fees, the commitment was still prominently placed on Labour in Scotland's website.

Now the party has faced further humiliation as in the rush to erase all evidence of their promise to oppose tuition fees, the entire education section of the website has simply been replaced with an error message.

The move to distance the party from its previous commitment to Scotland's students puts an end to any doubt that Labour intends to abandon the pledge and makes a mockery of claims that the outcome of Labour's Cuts Commission has not been pre-determined.

Recently released figures from UCAS showed that while there had been a 1% rise in the number of students accepted to study in Scotland, the same figure had fallen in England by 26,273.

Commenting, SNP MSP George Adam who sits on the Education and Culture Committee said:

“It seems that Johann Lamont's adoption of policies straight from Nick Clegg's handbook has caught her party out, as first their website was embarrassingly wrong and now their education policy has been wiped out entirely.

“There can no longer be any doubt that now they have taken this step that Labour is committing itself to breaking its pledge to students.

“Where once there was a banner proclaiming Labour would fight for what really matters, today there is simply a message that says 'error'.

“Ironically that 'error' message is entirely appropriate, as moving towards a system that hammers students in Scotland and drives people away from college and university is entirely wrong.

“With student numbers plummeting south of the border thanks to the sharp rise in tuition fees there, returning to a system of fees would do untold damage to the opportunities available for potential students in Scotland.

“It is only the SNP that remains utterly committed to the principle that education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay and clearly it is only the SNP that will continue to stand up for students in Scotland.”

Notes: A cached version of the education section of Labour in Scotland's website can be viewed at http://webcache.googleusercontent.com and shows the party's commitment to oppose tuition fees.

However, accessing the same section normally at http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/education today simply returns "Page Not Found - error 404".

Johann Lamont Must Apologise to Scotland's Students

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF AS ANOTHER LABOUR LEADER BREAKS PROMISES
Johann Lamont has been challenged to follow Nick Clegg’s example by personally apologising to the students she has betrayed over tuition fees.

NUS Scotland’s Reclaim your Voice campaign asked Parliamentary candidates to sign up to three specific pledges – one of which was a specific commitment to “no tuition fees.” All Labour candidates – including Johann Lamont – signed up to this. In addition, page 25 of Labour’s 2011 manifesto promised “Labour will not introduce upfront or backend tuition fees”

Despite these explicit commitments, just over a year later the Labour leader has given the strongest signal yet that – like Nick Clegg - she intends to betray the trust of students and introduce a charge on education.

Labour’s inconsistency on this issue has a long and disreputable history.

• In 1997, Tony Blair promised ahead of the Westminster election that Labour had “no plans to introduce tuition fees” – and then reintroduced fees after the election. 
• Labour’s 2001 manifesto stated “We will not introduce top-up fees and have legislated to prevent them”. After the election, Labour introduced top-up fees. 
• In 2011 – having voted against the abolition of the graduate endowment in the Scottish Parliament - Iain Gray ruled out any return to tuition fees or graduate endowments in their 2011 manifesto. 
• All Labour MSPs – including Johann Lamont – added their name to NUS Scotland’s Reclaim your Voice campaign, committing them to no tuition fees. 
• Less than two years on, this policy has seemingly been reversed with Johann Lamont again changing Labour’s position this week.

After Nick Clegg broke his word to students south of the border by being part of a coalition that increased tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year, he took the humiliating step of personally apologising to students.

With Johann Lamont having seemingly adopted his approach to student fees, she has now been challenged to follow suit with her own apology to students in Scotland.

Commenting, SNP MSP George Adam said:

“Like Nick Clegg, Joann Lamont and her party promised students that they would oppose tuition fees - and like Nick Clegg she and her party have in short order simply ignored their previous commitment and abandoned Scotland's students.

“Nick Clegg eventually had to apologise for betraying students in the way that he did. Johann Lamont should now follow his lead and do the same?

“The fact of the matter is that Labour’s policy on tuition fees has been all over the place, and the only consistent aspect to it has been that the needs of students have been the very last thing on their mind.

“Only the SNP is truly committed to standing up for the principle of education based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay.

“Tuition fees inevitably drive away potential students from poorer backgrounds and are absolutely the last thing that Scotland’s society and economy needs in these difficult times.

“As with the Lib Dems, this is a serious credibility problem for Johann Lamont. If we cannot trust a word she has said on higher education as recently as the last election, why should we believe a word she says on anything else?”