Keir Starmer kicks kids in the knackers over uni fees after stealing OAP heating cash

It's baffling PM Sir Keir Starmer still hasn’t U-turned on the winter fuel allowance and then came his government's first budget – a crock of crap for almost everyone

Sir Keir Starmer was accused of “declaring war” on students after hiking university tuition fees for the first time in eight years.

Cross-bench MPs blasted the move which will see the £9,250 cap rise by £285 a year from 2025. The PM had argued in 2020 the fees should be scrapped.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the Commons the Government had to make “tough decisions” which were “repeatedly ducked” by the Tories to “secure the future” of universities.

She added: “This will not cost graduates more each month as they start to repay their loans.”

But Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott accused the PM of “betraying” students

. Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana posted on X: “The government’s increase to tuition fees is wrong.

The University and College Union, which represents staff, also slammed the increase and uni fees overall, with general secretary Jo Grady saying “The model is broken”.

Independent MP for Blackburn Adnan Hussain added: “Higher education should be a right for all, and not a privilege for some.

“All tuition fees should be scrapped.”

The PM was accused of targeting the young and old after withdrawing the winter fuel allowance last month for most pensioners.

Government figures reveal 83% of people over 80 will lose the £300 payment, rising to 90% of those aged 66 to 79.

Ministers insisted tuition fee hikes are needed because universities are facing bankruptcy, with 40% in the red this year.

Money Saving Expert’s Martin Lewis confirmed only the richest graduates will be worse off since the amount which is repaid is directly linked to earnings, not to how much you borrow.

He said: “Higher tuition fees won’t change what most pay each year.

“The rise in tuition fees is likely to be trivial compared to the changes the last government made for 2023 starters.

“They had their repayment thresholds dropped to £25,000 from £27,295 per year and had the time they had to keep repaying for extended to 40 years from 30 years.

“Changing tuition fees is a more obvious rise, but in reality has far less of an impact on the amount most will repay.”

The University and College Union, which represents university staff, slammed the increase.

Its general secretary Jo Grady said: “Taking more money from debt ridden students and handing it to overpaid, underperforming vice-chancellors is ill-conceived.

“As Keir Starmer himself said last year, the current fees system doesn’t work for students and doesn’t work for universities.

“The model is broken.

“It has saddled students with decades of debt, turned universities from sites of learning into corporations obsessed with generating revenue.”

The Star Says

Keir Starmer has been a huge disappointment as Prime Minister so far. After all his promises of a new dawn, all we’ve had is more of the same old rubbish. The freebies scandal was a terrible look for a new Government.

It is still baffling that he hasn’t U-turned on the winter fuel allowance. Then their first budget was a crock of crap for almost everyone.

And now, amazingly, he has decided to raise tuition fees for the first time in seven years. There isn’t much to say other than WTF?

Especially as it’s only a few years since he pledged to abolish them. This is a policy that will only really make a difference to those students from less well-off backgrounds.

You would have expected a Labour government to be focused on targeting the uber rich and tax avoiders. Instead they are messing up the lives of OAPs and youngsters.

The jokers with the big red noses are very much alive and well again and at the wheel of the clown car that is Number 10.