Yesterday, Layla Moran talked to Julia Hartley-Brewer about that difficult issue of tuition fees.

Referring to the Lib Dem nightmare on the subject, she said that it was horrible and that she had almost left the party over the failure of our MPs to keep the pledge not to vote for any increase in tuition fees that they had signed during the 2010 election.

Looking to the future, Layla spoke of the importance of maintenance grants for poorer students in improving social mobility.

You can listen to her whole interview on the Talk Radio website here.

She added that the system is “broken” but the idea that university should be free for everyone – and that tuition fees should be abolished, an idea propounded by Jeremy Corbyn – is unsustainable. When asked by Julia why it is sustainable in other countries, Moran said that those countries cap the number of students who go to university, a comment which brought agreement from Julia, who said the idea that 50% of students are suitable for university education is “laughable.” In terms of specific ways to improve the education system, Moran says we must restore maintenance grants, the means-tested funding provided to poorer students to cover living costs. She also said that we must take greater care of the 50% who don’t go to university, and offer children more information to help them choose their GCSEs. If universities are administered correctly, Moran said, they can be real engines of social mobility for Britain’s future.

She also spoke of the importance of putting money into the Further Education sector and into schools to drive that improvement in social mobility.

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