University tuition fees are a "pointless Ponzi scheme" which are "blighting young people's futures" and must be radically reformed, Theresa May's former chief of staff says today.

Nick Timothy writes in the Telegraph that the “university gravy train”, under which vice-chancellors are paid up to £451,000 a year, must come to an end as he warns that “tinkering” with the system will not do.

More than 200,000 students receive their results today – the first to have done their A-levels since Michael

Gove, the former education secretary, brought in tougher tests in a bid to raise standards.