UCU response to Labour's plans to invest in a 'National Education Service'

The union said the proposals, which will allow adults to retrain and learn vital new skills, recognised the need for business to start paying its fair share for an educated workforce. Labour says the costs will be met by reversing years of cuts in corporation tax.

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Successive cuts in corporation tax, at a time when the cost of education has been rising, mean that the UK has among the lowest tax rates in the G20 for big business, but people pay more to improve their skills or study.

'We can continue to featherbed big business with a corporate tax regime which is more generous than countries like France, Germany and the US, or we can change direction and ask the most profitable companies to pay a bit more in order to fund access to education.'