PC 10: Tuition Fees

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Will Frost
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Re: PC 10: Tuition Fees

Post by Will Frost »

Talking to reporters about the specific of his party's proposal on tuition fees, Croft argues:

You know, in crafting this proposal the Conservative Party worked hard to develop an idea that was both progressive and fiscally responsible. Our plan to abolish tuition fees and replace them with a graduate tax scheme does just that, by ensuring that only those who can afford to pay do so while guaranteeing a consistent funding source for our incredible universities. Our scheme asks people to pay for the value they receive from their university degree; only requiring individuals to pay the tax once they've graduated and found employment, and employing a progress taxation scale so that individuals only pay what they can afford. Low income students who wouldn't have paid the existing fee won't pay the new tax, and eliminating the upfront cost of university means we're eliminating existing barriers to receiving a university education and preventing a scenario in which students are saddled with debt that compounds with interest. Our proposal is revolutionary, bold, and fundamentally fair.

On the other hand, you have a Government of broken promises that swore to never impose tuition fees and then did so weeks after they swept to power. Their commitment to our nations young people was broken the moment they won their majority, and as a result they've abdicated any moral authority they once had on the issue. And if we're talking about a stealth tax, or a tax on aspiration, there could really be no better example of that than the Liberal Democrats' proposal. Rebecca Flair has said herself that she wants to use the existing national surplus to fund her proposal, but when that money inevitably runs out they'll have no choice but to raise taxes to continue to pay for their unaffordable funding mechanism. Our plan to abolish tuition fees makes sense, and when the dust of this partisan fight settles I know the British people will have confidence in our plans for the future of young people and their families.
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Re: PC 10: Tuition Fees

Post by Andy Edwards »

For as much as Mr. Croft wants to seem like he's "talking specifics" about his proposal... he's offered very few. There's no explanation about what the tax rate will be, what the base will be, how it will be assessed, or how much it will run a graduate.

The Government supported basic fees for higher education because we need a system that can keep up with growing demand. With more and more students applying for higher education than ever before, this fee ensure we can have a system that benefits as many students as possible. But more importantly, that fee is transparent, it's clear, and it's fixed. The Tory education tax is just a proposal that is supposedly being worked out- but there's so many question marks that the Opposition won't opine on.

But for all the arguments about being fair and helping people... that's not what the Tories' plan will do. Because they haven't cared at all about basic education and improving that. It's basic education that has a greater impact on young minds and helping to get people out of poverty. It's access to jobs with high wages that get people out of poverty. And there's nothing about an education tax that will fix that.
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MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston (1992-) | Labour
Secretary of State for the Home Office (2001-)
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Re: PC 10: Tuition Fees

Post by Will Frost »

Forcing every student to pay thousands of pounds in order to pursue a university degree, with no concern as to whether or not they're going to successfully find employment and a salary to support them, is anything but fair. Considering the Home Secretary has taken to the press to say that the £800 million pounds he'll spend renationalizing prisons is mere "pennies," it makes sense that he would be similarly out of touch when it comes to the challenges working people face when attempting to attend university. The Labour Party ran a general election campaign promising not to impose tuition fees, and then U-turned the second they got into power. There's no moral justification for their decision; it was rooted in political expediency and a desire to find additional revenue streams for their spending projects. It was wrong then, it's wrong now, and it's time someone do something about it. That is why my party will be abolishing tuition fees, and why a Conservative Government will ensure every young person has the right to pursue a university education.
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Barclay A.A. Stanley
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Re: PC 10: Tuition Fees

Post by Barclay A.A. Stanley »

Now we're getting somewhere. Not without the occasional hiccup and difficulty, but we're getting somewhere. The story of this is that the Tories have come out with what is not a bad policy idea to tie the payment of tuition to the income graduates receive after their schooling is done. Unfortunately for them, that's all it is: an idea. That brings me to Barclay's educational PSA of the day. A policy idea is one thing, a policy is another. Policy ideas are the things that you get in your head and then go away and craft a policy out of. Policies are things with details, costings, research. Policy ideas are things that sound good and so you pursue them. What the Tories are offering, and this is why it doesn't really come off for them like it should have, is a policy idea. When you don't tell us the details, we get to make them up. That's Labour's general principle here and it kind of works.

Croft is, once again, the chief (and practically only) cheerleader for his side on this project which leads a lot of people to start thinking "he's brash, he goes too quickly, but at least he gets himself about and does something." His defense of the Tory position on tuition fees is as good as it can be, really, without having a hard and fast policy. Let me be really explicit about how this works best: you have an idea, you craft a policy, you write a paper detailing the policy, you write a speech introducing the paper, and then you post them both. In this case, you had an idea and then you posted about it. Again, Croft being the only one to come out swinging for this benefits him and his leadership, as many in the public and party ranks think "well, he hasn't been great but at least he's visible" whereas practically everyone else in the party, aside from a single contribution from Ashbridge, just don't bother showing up (which has become common for them). Sure, Croft gets beaten around a bit but he gives as good as he gets, even if he lacks the clear foundation of a full-fledged policy.

The Labour Party, mostly led by Chancellor Sir Jack Anderson, put on their best "we're the responsible party of government" but when they campaigned on keeping university free for students and then turned around and introduced fees, they were always going to take a beating over this. And they did. But Sir Jack and co, again noticeably without the support of their Prime Minister, mitigated the effects of the beating by shifting the focus onto the positive things the Labour Party are able to do with funds secured by the fee-paying school goers. That doesn't do a lot for the party with twenty-somethings, but what did have a significant impact was when Sir Jack pointed out that, under the Tory plan, university graduates would have to pay for those who dropped out. Maybe. We don't know because the Tories haven't made anything remotely clear yet. So points go to Labour for coming up with a plausible worst-case scenario and then running with it.

The Liberal Democrats get a few good ones in on the Tories, accusing them of trying to introduce a New Labouresque stealth tax and one-upping the Tory efforts to ditch tuition fees. Basically, you get what you would expect from the Lib Dems and their stock among university students, and recent uni graduates, continues to rise.

Conservatives +2 momentum
Labour -1 momentum
Liberal Democrats +2 momentum

Croft +2 XP, every other Tory other than Ashcroft -1 XP for fundamentally failing to turn up to multiple debates.
Anderson +1 XP
Flair +1 XP
Lt. Col. Sir Barclay A.A. Stanley, Rtd., KBE
Member of Parliament for Macclesfield

Armed with nothing but a pint of gin, Sir Barclay went to battle against the forces of Communism, Socialism, and Liberalism.
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Re: PC 10: Tuition Fees

Post by Barclay A.A. Stanley »

An addendum: since they were not part of the party at the time, Appelle and Jones are also exempt from the -1 XP.
Lt. Col. Sir Barclay A.A. Stanley, Rtd., KBE
Member of Parliament for Macclesfield

Armed with nothing but a pint of gin, Sir Barclay went to battle against the forces of Communism, Socialism, and Liberalism.
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