Tuition fees were a massive political football during Labour’s first two terms, with the introduction of fees in 1998 and then legislation for top-up fees in 2004 (they were actually introduced in 2006). Since then, silence – none of the big three parties have made much noise about higher education funding. Labour and the Tories both hide behind Lord Browne’s ongoing review of higher education funding, while the Lib Dems have tempered their previous policy of scrapping fees in favour of an ambition to phase them out… after the next general election.
Could all this matter at the election? The conventional wisdom is that young people don’t turn out in great numbers and, outside of a handful of marginal seats in university towns, don’t have a big impact on the results. But conventional wisdom has been turned on its head this week, and the National Union of Students’ president-elect Aaron Porter thinks he has an opportunity. His article on the subject at LeftFootForward makes a good case for politicians listening to student voices a bit more.