A future Labour government would have to consider introducing student number controls in England, according to a former Conservative adviser, while another former Tory adviser described the idea as aiming to “block people’s access to education”.
Iain Mansfield, former special adviser in the Department for Education, kept the debate over number controls rumbling on with a report for the Policy Exchange thinktank calling for legislation to cap numbers to rebalance funding from higher education into vocational education.
That led to some lively exchanges on X, formerly known as Twitter, with Nick Hillman – a former Tory special adviser in the Cameron government when it abolished student number controls – saying it was “incredibly unimaginative and regressive” to push for a return of number caps.
Mr Mansfield pushed for controls in his time in government, ultimately resulting in prime minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement of a crackdown on “rip-off degrees” – recruitment limits on courses falling below the Office for Students’ quality thresholds.
