Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the Government’s plans to proceed with a second sale of part of the student loan book, said:

“The last time the Tories sold off a slice of the student loan book they lost hundreds of millions of pounds, yet this latest announcement shows they have learnt absolutely nothing.

“These repeated experiments with privatisation are not in the interests of either taxpayers or the students facing a mountain of debt for a university education. Thanks to the Tories’ mismanagement of the economy our public finances are now among the worst in the developed world, but instead of fixing the problem the Tories are resorting to a short-term fix at a long-term cost to the country.

“The next Labour government will address the real issues; ending privatisation, scrapping tuition fees and bringing back maintenance grants to ensure university is free as part of our National Education Service.”