UCU calls for tuition fees to be scrapped in response to Labour manifesto

Responding to the Labour Party's General Election manifesto, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Labour's recognition of post-16 education's importance to Britain is a welcome departure from years of Tory destruction. But if we are to see a decade of growth and national renewal, then Labour in government must deliver radical solutions to the systemic crises facing our colleges and universities.  

"The higher education funding model is broken beyond repair. This is not a crisis that can be dealt with on the cheap. We need to sweep away tuition fees, as Keir Starmer pledged to do, and replace them with sustained, long-term public funding. Anything less would be a continuation of sticking plaster politics.  

"Similarly, our colleges will only thrive and deliver the skills we need if staff are paid fairly, closing the gap with schoolteachers. The crises in education, health, and welfare can all be solved by taxing wealth and big business. That's how Britain's public infrastructure can be repaired: failing to do so would be a political choice, and a historic mistake."