UFO Info Week-End

We could win the argument and lose the vote one minister said

“We could win the argument and lose the vote,” one minister said.Cabinet ministers including Gordon Brown, John Prescott and Jack Straw joined the battle to stave off defeat by speaking to the rebel MPs with whom they are personal friends. But two Brown allies organising the rebellion, Nick Brown and George Mudie, had refused to back down. They both met Mr Blair yesterday and one source said: “The Prime Minister was only interested in looking them in the eye and saying, ‘Will you support me?’ The answer was ‘no.’”The Chancellor told an enterprise conference he chaired in London: “I want us to be the best-educated, best-trained workforce, and tomorrow’s much-needed reform of university finance – which I urge all MPs and all Labour MPs to support – is another vital step towards that goal.”Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, issued a Commons statement spelling out his plans to review the top-up fees scheme three years after it takes effect in 2006. There will be an independent review to examine the scheme’s impact after three years. Any student loan outstanding after 25 years would be written off.16 January: Mr Clarke amends his earlier proposals so students can take their £1,200 fee remission as cash up-front.

This means students from poorer families can arrive at university with £2,700.25 January: At the last minute, Mr Clarke makes an amendment to the Bill which makes it impossible to raise the £3,000 cap during the next Parliament without new legislation.. She replied: “Nothing is ruled in and nothing is ruled out.”8 January 2003: Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, hints that up-front tuition fees will be abolished and students will pay for their tuition after they start earning.22 January 2003: Mr Clarke publishes Government’s blueprint for reforming university funding. Students will be charged tuition fees of up to £3,000 a year from 2006, but will not have to pay until after they graduate and are earning more than £15,000. He proposed helping poorer students by giving those with family incomes of less than £10,000 a grant of £1,000 a year from 2004.8 January 2004: Publication of the higher education Bill. In a new concession, the student grant will rise to up to £1,500 from 2006, an increase of £500 The present fee of £1,200 would also be waived.

The £3,000 cap will be fixed through the next Parliament and can be changed only by parliamentary vote. She was accused of a U-turn by MPs after she was asked if top-up fees would be introduced. She supports the fee proposals.”Universities can’t keep going on the current money. The issue is about having world-class universities and we need to compete with the States, where the resources are so much better The Government has got it more or less right.