Labour leader criticises government over increasing costs for students
Good morning. We’ve had energy week, small boats week and NHS week. At the Downing Street lobby briefing yesterday the PM’s spokesperson was asked if this was education week (according to the No 10 news grid), and replied categorically that it wasn’t. But it certainly feels like it. Yesterday the Department for Education put out a story about childminding, and fielded a junior minister for the morning broadcast round. This morning Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, is in the radio studios, promoting an announcement about free schools. And on Thursday the GCSE results are out.
And Keir Starmer is getting in on the act too. In a statement released overnight, he criticises the government for increasing costs for students and claims that, if he were a young person today, because of his working class background he would not be able to afford to go to university. He says:
There wasn’t any spare money knocking around to fund me going to Leeds. I worked before I went and then got by on grants, as many young people do. I vividly remember carefully calculating rent, bills and food.
Going to Leeds to study was a turning point for me; it will be a deep betrayal if one of the legacies of this Tory government is university, apprenticeships and skills becoming the preserve of the wealthy.
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