Labour's Policy of Scrapping Tuition Fees - a Vote Winner?

The news that the British Labour Party, if elected on June the 8th will do away with tuition fees, is huge news for students. But is it just an election ploy? Can the UK afford it? Could this have a meaningful effect on the election?

Ben Chacko, the editor of The Morning Star and Edward Sanders, a student at Northumbria University participate in this program.

Ben Chacko starts the program by saying that the UK can afford to scrap tuition fees, pointing out that there is no shortage of money; but over the past 5 years, austerity has only made the rich richer and the poor poorer. Host John Harrison challenges this view, saying that this could simply be an election ploy as redistribution of wealth is easy to talk about but hard to do. Jeremy Corbyn wants to bring this about immediately, and at the same time there is the NHS and there are other major programs to pay for such as nationalization of the railways and energy. Ben Chacko says that this is not an election ploy and that Jeremy Corbyn cannot be accused of being insincere. Edward Sanders added that the UK cannot afford not to instigate such a policy, as the UK, after leaving the EU will need to invest into the future like ever before.

John Harrison makes the point that scrapping tuition fees does not necessarily mean redistribution of wealth, and cites the example of Scotland where some argue that low or non-existent tuition fees have only shifted the burden onto the secondary education system and not reduced inequality. Ben Chacko says that Labour is not only talking about reforming higher education but has an across the board education plan. Both speakers say that the decision for the government not to pay tuition fees is political rather than economic. Edward Sanders lists the very low tuition fees in other European countries to support his argument.

In the second half of the program, the question of whether the policy of scrapping tuition fees could be a major vote catcher for Labour is discussed, as the Conservatives have indicated that they will increase tuition fees if re-elected. Ben Chacko points out, that 620,000 people registered to vote on the last day when they were able to, and this is highly significant, as a quarter of a million of those people were under 25: "Polls are actually often weighted to account for the fact that young people don't vote, so if larger numbers of people are going to vote in this election, that could be some real upset in terms of what people are predicting in the results."

The possible result of tuition fees if the Conservatives win the election is also discussed along with many other facets of these very important developments in British politics.

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