On the Today Programme on Friday, Chris Leslie, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said “A typical teacher will still have £25,000 to pay off at the the age of 50 and will really struggle to be able to do that”. It is really horrifying that either he does not understand the system, or that he is deliberately misleading the millions who listen to the Today programme.

The current scheme has a cut off point at the age of 50. No further payments are made after that age. Graduates who go into low paid work, in teaching, social services, medical work etc will only have to pay towards their student loan for 29 years, after which the loan is written off. Reducing the total loan by 30% which is Labour’s policy will have no impact, as the repayments will be the same, and it will still not all be repaid by the cut off age.

However those earning over £35,00 a year will repay enough to clear the reduced debt, and will be able to stop repayments well before they are 50. Cutting the repayments for high earning bankers while doing nothing for teachers, nurses etc. shows that Labour cannot do the sums. If they cannot get their minds around this issue they will not be able to manage the economy.

If a potential member of Labour’s Treasury Team, is either so incompetent that he does not understand the system or so duplicitous that he will stoop to purveying untruths, then let us hope that he has no part in running the economy.

It is also worth remembering that Labour introduced the Student Loan Scheme, and then trebled the amount, with no cut off point, and the Conservatives were planning to remove the upper limit completely. It was only because of Lib Dem involvement that we achieved a system which is working well, and is fair and efficient.

Making a pledge to vote against student fees when in opposition was a mistake. Lib Dems working in coalition to produce a fair and efficient system is just one of the many achievements of the Lib Dems in government.

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