What turns young people away from the Conservatives isn’t more education. It’s the retreat of the property-owning democracy.
It is now open season on the Education Secretary, as it will continue to be until he resigns, is moved – or is sacked.
Given the Coronavirus uncertainties, whatever he announces could be even more provisional than most schemes of most Chancellors.
For a country deep in debt, lofty thoughts are not enough to justify such huge numbers of students doing things that don’t help them economically,
If, that is, interest rates carry on at rock bottom rates. But we have to take a chance on growing our way out of this crisis.
The new Chancellor should stick to the basics of cutting taxes, spending more on education and rebalancing growth outside of London.
Universities have generally had an excellent decade, but the rest of the system has not. It’s time to correct the imbalance.
If if the higher education sector must take some further pain in the spending review, then the last option is the least bad.