Keir Starmer is preparing to ditch Labour’s commitment to free university tuition, setting him on another collision course with the left of his party.
Labour’s two past general election manifestos promised to abolish tuition fees and Starmer’s successful leadership campaign in 2020 pledged to retain that policy. But the Labour leader is preparing a speech for later this month in which he will reverse his position.
A senior party source told The Times: “At a time when we’re being so careful about spending commitments, it’s a glaring anomaly that we still haven’t moved on tuition fees. It’s one of the remaining commitments from 2019 that we will be clear we have moved on from.”
Labour strategists hope that electoral benefits from showing Starmer’s fiscal discipline.
