Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith to scrap university tuition fees. Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats comments in the Western Daily Press.

The BBC News website reports that Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith has pledged to scrap university tuition fees. The report states;
" Mr Smith has called for the current funding system to be abolished and replaced with a 1%-2% graduate tax.  Under Mr Smith's plan to abolish tuition fees, graduates would pay an additional 1-2% tax on income above £15,000 for a specified period - possibly around 25 years after leaving university."
Here is a link to the full report:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37204996

Clive Lavelle of the English Democrats comments in this letter to the Western Daily Press published on 30th of August.

Students in need of equality through UK.

Owen Smith, Labour Party leadership hopeful, has promised to scrap tuition fees for English students. He intends to replace these with a “graduate tax” of 1 to 2 per cent.

Currently, English students (and only English students) run up a debt of £27,000 over a three-year course, which they pay back, upon graduating and finding work. Under Smith’s proposal, they will pay an extra 2 per cent tax to pay for their university course. In short, Smith will give with the right hand, while he takes with the left.

If this man were worth a single vote, he would be promising to scrap the Barnett Formula, which diverts English taxes to Scotland and Wales to fund free tuition for Scottish students and heavily subsidised tuition for Welsh students. Instead, he promises the same end by a different means. The English pay; the rest don’t.

Clive Lavelle

Weston-super-Mare English Democrats