Students Tear Apart Labour’s Plan To Axe Tuition Fees In A HuffPost UK-Edelman Focus Group.

by Guest Sat May 13, 2017 6:56 pm

Labour’s flagship pledge to scrap tuition fees is little more than an undeliverable “ploy” to get support at the ballot box, according to students taking part in a HuffPost UK/Edelman focus group. The policy was one of a number to be contained in the party’s manifesto leaked to the media on Thursday – an incident described as a “complete cock-up” by one student.

As well as dismissing Labour’s chances of getting in power to deliver the pledge, the youngsters also argued that tuition fees should not be abolished, and instead lowered from the current level of £9,000 a year. The focus group - carried out in conjunction with the Mile End Institute at Queen Mary University of London – were virtually united in their belief that Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t up to the job of being Labour leader, with just one describing him as “refreshing.”

Of the eight taking part in the group, only one was certain to vote Labour, with two backing the Tories, one the Lib Dems and the others currently undecided. Professor Philip Cowley, the Director of the Mile End Institute, said: “The lazy assumption is always that students will just vote en masse for whoever promises them reduced tuition fees.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/labour-tuition-fees-focus-group_uk_5915f80de4b0fe039b347e10?utm_hp_ref=uk