Using hashtag #ToryPriceTag, Labour leader starts petition against Cameron’s plans, which he calls a ‘tax on learning’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Jeremy Corbyn has launched a campaign to stop David Cameron lifting the cap on university fees, starting with a petition and the hashtag #ToryPriceTag.

The Labour leader said his party would offer no support for the proposals published this week, which could involve linking what institutions can charge to the quality of their teaching.

Corbyn would like to abolish tuition fees by raising £10bn of taxes on high-earners or businesses and promised to work to stop the limit of £9,000 being scrapped.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: “Students today are more in debt than ever. I want to make it clear to the prime minister that he will not get any support from these benches on raising tuition fees.

“This government is penalising students, announcing the abolition of maintenance grants last year and now announcing that fees will be raised even further. This is a tax on learning, as [George Osborne] the chancellor of the exchequer called it in 2003, from a government that cut taxes on capital gains.

“What message does that send about the economy they want to create? That wealth generates more wealth with minimal tax. That effort and hard work lands you in a lifetime of debt, with no support. What an insult to the aspirations of young people wanting an education.”

Labour launched its petition shortly after the Queen’s speech, with more than 2,000 people signing already. Corbyn also tweeted with the hashtag #ToryPriceTag and website www.thetorypricetag.com.

“I oppose the Tories’ plan to increase tuition fees, saddling young people with a lifetime of debt,” the petition says.

A senior Labour source said: “Labour will strongly campaign against any increase in tuition fees and we will work with students to do that.”

In his response to the Queen’s speech, Corbyn said the government was a “driverless car” with ministers asleep at the wheel.

He said the aims of Cameron’s prison reform agenda were welcome but did not go far enough, highlighting the violence and suicide rates in jails.

While Conservative MPs heckled him and made jokes, he refused to give way during a 40-minute speech, saying the crisis “could not be solved by laughing”.

The Labour leader highlighted massive cuts to adult social care and other public services that were not addressed by the Queen’s speech. However, he supported the measures on adoption, the sugar tax and re-regulating bus services to expand access to public transport.

Angus Robertson, the SNP’s Westminster leader, said the Queen’s speech was a “wasted opportunity for progressive action on pensions, social security and the economy”.

