LOCAL STUDENTS COULD FACE £7,000 TUITION FEES

10.27.00am GMT Sun 1st Nov 2009

Over 13,000 students in Preston risk huge increases in university tuition fees within the next eight months if the Conservatives regain power, according to Preston's LibDem candidate for the General Election, Mark Jewell.

Mark was speaking after the Conservatives suggested they will increase tuition fees to £7,000 if they take power at the next general election, which has to be held by next June.

That will see tuition fees for undergraduates more than double. Currently, there is a cap of £3,300 in England and Wales.

Peter Mandelson has already suggested that Labour will allow universities to charge more than at present if reelected - though the party is too scared to push through the changes it wants before June.

Only the Liberal Democrats want to scrap tuition fees. Commenting Mark Jewell said:

"I look around Preston and more and more I see young people returning from University with no job and a bank balance tens of thousands of pounds in the red. What sort of future is that?

Labour and the Tories are showing their true colours. They don't care about young people - they just want to saddle them with staggering amounts of debt.

University education should be free and everyone who has the ability should be able to go - and not put off by the cost.

The choice is clear: The people of Preston can vote for either Labour or the Tories and condemn a generation of youngsters or they can choose the Liberal Democrats who want to make education free again, giving young people the best start in life."