Keir Starmer is being savaged as observers argue today’s announcement that tuition fees are set to increase for the first time in seven years is further proof voters “can’t trust a single word that comes out of his mouth”.
Sir Keir repeatedly pledged during the 2020 Labour leadership race that not only would he not increase tuition fees for students, he would abolish fees altogether.
In an attempt to convince Labour members he was supportive of Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing platform, Sir Keir made a number of hardline “pledges” about renationalisation and tuition fees.
In a resurfaced 2020 interview with the BBC’s Andrew Neil, Sir Keir was asked whether ‘tuition fees being scrapped’ will be in his party’s next election manifesto.
The leadership hopeful emphatically replied: “Yes, that’s why it’s a pledge”.
As the clip resurfaced on social media this afternoon, it prompted many to accuse him of being a “compulsive liar” and “unfit to be a Prime Minister”.
Commentator James Melville blasted: “Students have every right to be massively p****d off about this. Keir Starmer promised to scrap tuition fees and now he’s going to increase them – saddling students with even more debt.”
“He literally bulls*****d his way through his pre-election promises.”
He was even condemned by Labour councillor Martin Abrams, who accused his u-turn of being “a total betrayal of young people”.
In the House of Commons today, the newly-appointed shadow education secretary Laura Trott also tore into Bridget Phillipson who emerged today to confirm the fees hike.
Ms Trott observed there had been “no sign” of the plan in Labour’s manifesto, with the PM having made scrapping fees “a centrepiece of his leadership campaign in 2020”.
She continued: “Perhaps we should start putting sell-by dates on statements the Prime Minister makes.”
“But it’s not just the PM! In July this year the Secretary of State said she had ‘no plans’ to increase tuition fees, and yesterday the Chancellor said there is ‘no need’ to increase taxes further.
“Yet what is happening today? Apart from a hike in the effective tax graduates have to pay.”
She said the last thing students were expecting was a rise in their tuition fees, indeed most will have believed it would have been the last thing a Labour government did.
