The media has been in a frenzy this week after accusing Jeremy Corbyn of supposedly ‘backtracking’ over what some in the media called a Labour ‘pledge’ to write off all existing student debt.
The problem with the media’s claims, however, was that Labour never made a pledge to write of student debt – they said they would do their best to deal with it.
Labour DID pledge to scrap tuition fees in their manifesto, a true pledge which they would still implement should Jeremy Corbyn be elected Prime Minister.
The Conservatives have, despite having absolutely no policies that would benefit students, attempted to use the media’s limp ‘pledge breaking’ accusations as a way of turning students against Labour.
The Tories even released a shambolic attack ad on Jeremy Corbyn using this outrageously weak line – an advert that could see the Conservatives facing legal action after using unauthorised images owned by NME on the ad.
This is the Tories pitiful attack ad below:
Promise broken: Confirmed, Labour's promise to wipe student debt was just an ambition. pic.twitter.com/Sat5RZwTHk
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) July 18, 2017
But looking at the policies being proposed by both Labour and the Tories, picking a political party to support is still an absolute no-brainer for students.
And today in the House of Commons, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner expertly outlined exactly why students still shouldn’t trust a single word from Theresa May or the Tories on their policies regarding people in higher education.
Back in the mid-90’s, Theresa May was the Shadow Education Secretary – a time when her views on education were in stark contrast to the policies she’s implementing on education now.
Today Labour’s Angela Rayner seized on one quote made by Theresa May in 1997 about the Maintenance Grant – a policy that Labour have pledged to bring back should Jeremy Corbyn be elected Prime Minister.
This is what Theresa May thought about replacing the Maintenance Grant back in 1997:
There is real concern that the Government’s decision not to follow Dearing’s proposal to introduce tuition fees while maintaining the maintenance grant, but rather to abolish the maintenance grant and replace it with loans will, far from widening access, narrow it.
Pretty simple really. Theresa May said that scrapping the grant and replacing it with loans would lead to less people being able to go in to higher education
But now, Theresa May’s views on the Maintenance Grant – much like her entire outlook towards student finance – have changed drastically since getting into power. Another Tory U-turn, and one which Labour’s Shadow Education secretary has just brutally exposed for all to see.
Watch Angela Rayner’s blistering attack exposing Theresa May and the Tories’ shocking hypocrisy towards students below:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaZA7wHyTKU[/embedyt]
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