Student fees will be GE issue in Newcastle East

3.55.15pm GMT Wed 16th Dec 2009

The chair of the Independent Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance has announced that the review will begin consultation on policy options in the spring after publishing its initial findings on 31 Jan 2010. This means that the debate will be a live issue during the anticipated General Election campaign early next year; it had previously been expected that the review would not report until after the election.

Prospective Lib Dem MP for Newcastle East Greg Stone has supported the decision to bring forward consultation on policy options, saying "For a university constituency like Newcastle East, the future of higher education funding deserves to be a major issue at the General Election. Thousands of students and higher education employees deserve the chance to have a say in the outcome of this debate, and it is clear that the issue of increasing tuition fees will be a dividing line between the major parties. Both Labour and the Conservatives are likely to support raising the current fee cap; the Lib Dems want to abolish fees."