Rt Hon Vince Cable MP
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
1 Victoria Street
LONDON
SW1H 0ET

16 November 2010

Dear Vince,

Tuition fees cap

I write to you to raise my grave concerns about proposed changes to the university tuition fees system. I have always argued that it is wrong for individual students to bear the brunt of meeting the costs of a university education when the economy, business and society as a whole benefit just as much as each student.

Rather than burdening students with debt and creating a funding structure that will discriminate against those from less well off families, I call on you to consider proposals for a business education tax, as put forward by the University College Union and Compass in their recent report ‘In place of fees: time for a Business Education Tax'. Under this proposal increasing the main rate of corporation tax to the G7 average of 32.87p and hypothecating the extra revenue would generate almost £3.9 billion for higher education-more than enough to abolish all tuition fees.

Such a move would still leave the UK's main rate corporation tax rate below France, United States and Japan, and would leave the small companies' rate unchanged at 21%. I also think that proactive steps to close the £8 billion tax gap between what corporations should and do pay are urgently required. Improving collection from companies to just 10% of the underpaid amount would yield an extra £800 million a year-enough to fund up to 100,000 students.

I strongly believe that this is a much fairer option than the coalition's proposals. I also call on you to consider the BMA's recommendation to the Browne Review that options for forgivable loans for medical students be explored. Given the time medical students spend at university they will obviously feel the impact of increased fees all the harder, regardless of the systems in place for repayment.
I look forward to your response

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion

Read the reply from Universities Minister David Willetts