OfS needs funding to protect institutions at risk, says UCU

On the sustainability of the sector, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'Labour is right to refocus the OfS on protecting the financial sustainability of the sector. Let's be clear, any institution failing is a disaster - for students, staff, the local area and the reputation of UK higher education. Across the country, we are already seeing courses being cut and thousands of staff being threatened with redundancy.

'The regulator's first priority must be to ensure no institution goes under, but to give this duty teeth it now needs new funding that can be used to support any university at risk. The OfS should also be tasked with preserving the subject and regional breadth of the sector, to avoid geographical cold spots where students are unable to study key courses. Looking forward, the government needs to end the failed marketisation experiment and publicly fund the sector.'

On free speech, Jo said: 'We have long called for the government to end its obsession with culture wars on campus and are delighted Labour has listened to us and dropped absurd proposals for free speech fines. We look forward to working with the interim chair, Sir David Behan, to ensure the organisation becomes truly fit for purpose.

'The main threats to free speech on campus came from the previous government, including using taxpayer money to investigate academics before falsely smearing them and having to pay legal costs. These plans were always a Trojan horse for stoking the culture war and it is right that Labour has dropped them.'