SIR – I decide to write less to the T&A when along comes someone like A Holdsworth, (“Who’s to blame”, Letters, Marc h 5), and I can’t help myself! Maths clearly isn’t (?) Mr Holdsworth’s strong point.
He says: “This Government’s £9,000 pa student fee policy is saddling...(graduates)....with £40,000 debt.”
The coalition raised tuition fees by up to £6,000 pa. Three times £6,000 for a three year course is £18,000, so £22,000 of the debt would have been earned under the previous Labour Government’s policy.
Labour’s plans to reduce tuition fees to £6,000 pa will mean that the highest earning graduates pay back £9,000 less, while the poorest – who benefit from lower payback rates and exemptions introduced at Lib-Dem insistence, will not benefit at all. Like increasing income tax for the poorest under Gordon Brown, does this show that Labour is not on the side of the poor, but the better off? Or is it just a lack of competence?
John Hall, Pennithorne Avenue, Baildon
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