Today I held the Government to account for their creative accounting that has hidden the real cost of the student loans system from the Government Accounts – a system that is failing students, taxpayers and even the Government. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility estimates that £12 billion will be added to the Government’s deficit – which will mean tax rises or spending cuts may be necessary. It makes a mockery of the Chancellor’s claim to have eliminated the deficit. Worryingly, universities may end up losing money as a result. Students and universities should not lose out because the Government has been caught out for financial trickery. Moreover, the debt-driven system we currently have that leaves graduates with record levels of debt and huge levels of debt write off for the Government doesn’t work. It’s time for real reform: a further and higher education system that’s genuinely free at the point of use, where the only limits on access to education are where people’s ambitions and talents will take them.

Posted by Wes Streeting MP on Tuesday, December 18, 2018