LIB DEM ANGLIN CHALLENGES MP TO OPPOSE POLL TAX ON LEARNING

1.55.59pm GMT Thu 8th Jan 2004

Local Parliamentary Campaigner Charles Anglin has stepped up his demands that the Government scrap plans, which will mean that many of the brightest local students would no longer be able to afford a university education.

Labour is proposing to introduce a new annual £3,000 fee on top of the £1,250 students already have to pay each year, with students earning as little as £15,000 having to find the money.

Anglin challenged Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey to resist threats from Tony Blair & back Lib Dem proposals to abolish tuition fees altogether and introduce £2,000 maintenance grant paid for by a new 50% top rate of tax on incomes over £100,000. Anglin said, "Labour under Tony Blair are making access to higher education dependent on the ability to pay, not on the ability to learn.

"This is the Government's 'poll tax on learning'. They want to burden students with mortgage style debts, which could be as high as £33,000, which many students will still be paying back when they retire. This makes a mockery of the Government's claim to be widening opportunities."

Charles Anglin has written to local Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey urging her to join Liberal Democrat MPs in opposing the Government's plans in Parliament; "Labour MPs should have the courage of their convictions and vote against these divisive plans, which will deter many of our most talented young people from continuing their education."

Charles is encouraging people to sign the on-line petition at: http://www.scraptuitionfees.com/

ENDS

The letter from Charles Anglin is attached below:

Kate Hoey MP

House of Commons

London

SW1A 0AA

08 January

Dear Kate,

I am writing to urge you to vote against the Government's proposals for student top-up fees, when they come before Parliament this session and to support the Liberal Democrat plan to fund the abolition of tuition fees altogether funded through the introduction of a new 50% top rate of tax on incomes over £100,000.

As you know tuition fees already deter many students from going to university. In England the proportion of school leavers applying for university entry is falling, while in Scotland (where tuition fees have been abolished after Lib Dem campaigning) it is increasing. Additionally, fees impose great hardship on many who take up university places. Introducing top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year, tripling the average student debt, to a mortgage style £33,000 will make these problems even worse and deter even more potential students from continuing their education.

I am urging you not to be swayed by Tony Blair's crude threats and blandishments. Under the Government's so called concessions a graduate earning £15,000 a year will stay pay a higher rate of tax than a millionaire. That is unfair and unacceptable and your constituents expect you to join with the Liberal Democrats in opposing it.

Many graduates will be take up socially valuable, but relatively poorly paid, jobs such as teachers and junior NHS staff. However, because the best universities will be able to charge the highest fees, students, especially one from poor backgrounds like many of the people in Vauxhall, will be discouraged from applying for University. Everyone agrees that universities need more money, however we could ask those earning huge salaries to pay a little more through a 50p tax rate on their earnings over £100,000 each year. After all, the whole of society benefits from the skills of graduates, this would raise we could afford not only to stop top-up fees, but also to scrap existing tuition fees, and reintroduce grants of up to £2000 for students from low income backgrounds - double what the Government is proposing. Surely this would be a fairer way forward?

I hope you stand up for local people and join with the Liberal Democrats in Parliament and help in to defeat this unfair and misguided 'poll tax on learning'.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours sincerely,

Charles Anglin

Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson for Vauxhall