Theresa May to cut student loan interest in bid to win young voters – report
2 min read
Theresa May is reportedly weighing up a cut to student loan interest in a bit to win over younger voters to the Conservatives.
Plans to cut back on the 6% added on to the £9,000 fees is considered “high up as a main option”, according to a Tory source who has discussed the proposal with No 10.
Universities could also face calls to the slash the fees, which rose drastically during the coalition government.
The changes could be unveiled before next month’s Tory party conference as the party begin its fight to win back the generation that overwhelmingly backed Labour in June.
Jeremy Corbyn’s party had pledged to scrap fees before the vote, with some suggestions that they may even write off the debt currently held by students and graduates.
A source close to Downing Street told the Sunday Telegraph: “We can all see the political issue here. The fundamental idea that you don’t fund universities from public funding but a graduate scheme makes sense to everybody.
“But the Government is looking at options to ease the effects [of student debt] in various ways.”
When asked about the plans by the paper, a No 10 spokesman said: “All policy is kept under review.”
The plans face opposition within Tory ranks however, with some major figures arguing the move would appear as a concession to the hard-left.
Some senior Tories told the paper that the party must not “over-interpret the results of a disastrous campaign” by adopting “hardcore Corbynism”.
They argue that Conservative chances of winning the next election would not be revived by “jettisoning our entire economic strategy to keep the public finances in check”.
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