Calls for Higher Education Minister to clarify student fee comments
Minister James Lawless said that a cost-of-living package will not form part of Budget 2026, meaning the temporary drop in the student contribution fee would 'reset' to before the inflationary crisis.
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Opposition politicians have criticised the mooted increase and asked the Government to give clarity to parents ahead of the upcoming academic year.
'If I don't have a cost-of-living package, I can't do the type of measures I did last year,' Mr Lawless told RTÉ's This Week.
'The once-off supports – and they were very clearly described as 'once off' at the time – are not being provided for as it stands because there's no cost-of-living package being made available.
'That may change coming into the Budget, I suppose it is a matter for the finance ministers more so than myself.'
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He said the fees would 'reset' to what they were three years ago.
The student contribution fee was at €3,000 before the inflation crisis, and was reduced by €1,000 as part of Government measures to help people grapple with inflation.
The temporary €1,000 reduction was first announced in 2022 and extensions were confirmed in 2023 and 2024.
Students whose households have a joint income below €100,000 could also apply for a grant through SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to secure a further €500 fee reduction.
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Mr Lawless said he intends to 'wind down' the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government, but said 'it is complicated'.
He said there are too many versions of the SUSI grant and said there is a 'desire to reform it' so that it is more effective.
He said a cost of education paper would be assembled and published this summer.
The programme for government states that the coalition will 'continue to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the government… in a financially sustainable manner'.
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Maeve O'Connell, a Fine Gael TD for Dublin-Rathdown who is a former lecturer, said it was 'reasonable' for parents to assume that third-level fees would not be going up due to the commitment in the programme for government.
She told RTÉ's Liveline that it was 'very early stages' in the Budget process and said there was no guarantee that this was the Government's final position.
'I will certainly be raising this week,' she said of parents' concerns about whether fees would increase this September.
Labour Senator Laura Harmon said Ms O'Connell's remarks 'directly criticised' Mr Lawless and asked for clarity to be provided to families.
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'Yesterday, Minister Lawless made it clear that increasing student fees is still very much under active consideration. Yet today on Liveline Maeve O'Connell is attempting to say this hasn't been confirmed,' Ms Harmon said.
'This is not just a communications blunder – it's a political failure. It is incredibly unfair to leave students in limbo.'
The Social Democrats' Jen Cummins said Mr Lawless 'dropped a bombshell' on students and their families.
'Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to get their act together, end this phoney war and live up to their commitments to students. This speculation, about whether fees are going up, must now be brought to an end,' she said.
People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy said Mr Lawless's suggestion of raising fees was 'shocking', and called for third-level fees to be abolished and for student accommodation to be made affordable.
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The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
A year of Keir: It has ended in tears, but here's why he might be doing better than you think
Keir Starmer's first anniversary as prime minister arrives at a very bad moment. He will not be remembered for what he achieved in the past 12 months, but will be overshadowed by a humiliating double U-turn over £5bn of cuts to disability benefits which wiped out any savings from the reforms. It severely dented his authority and left him looking not in control of his rebellious MPs. In a week when he hoped to talk up the government's achievements, Starmer had to try to stabilise the financial markets after Rachel Reeves shed tears sitting next to him at Prime Minister's Questions. Although the chancellor insisted this was due to a 'personal matter,' Starmer's initial failure to guarantee she would stay in her job until the next general election sparked a wobble in the markets. Later he made clear she would remain in her post 'for many years to come' but that did not quell speculation at Westminster that she would not. The anniversary will also be remembered for Starmer's unusually frank admission of his mistakes. He took full responsibility for last week's welfare climbdown, admitting he had been distracted by the G7 and Nato summits. He regretted his controversial speech on immigration in which he unintentionally aped Enoch Powell by saying the UK risks becoming 'an island of strangers'. Remarkably, I'm told Starmer's mea culpa was his own work and not discussed with his closest advisers. This is rare for such an important intervention. All prime ministers need a sounding board; perhaps Starmer lacks one. Some allies insist his two admissions are a refreshing change from the macho politics shaped by Margaret Thatcher's 'there is no alternative' mantra, saying it showed a human side his critics often accuse the seemingly dull, technocratic PM of not displaying. (He and his family were distressed on the day of the immigration speech because his former family home in Kentish Town, London, had just been firebombed). But other Starmer allies were shocked and appalled by his move. 'Insane,' one told me. 'With zero charisma, the one thing he is supposed to be is competent. He admits he didn't read his immigration speech properly before making it. How competent is that?' Downing Street's plan was for the anniversary to mark a change of gear: the government's first year was about 'clearing up the mess' left behind by the Conservatives. Year two is supposed to begin the 'renewal of Britain' and for the public to start to see the difference Labour rule makes. However, the volte-face over welfare was Starmer's third U-turn in a month: he also diluted the ill-fated decision to means-test the pensioners' winter fuel allowance and accepted a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal. The U-turns reinforced the image of a prime minister not in control of events. But they were better than ploughing on and making a political problem even worse. Aides make a virtue of Starmer's pragmatism. As one puts it: 'If plan A doesn't work, he will try something else until it does. He is a problem solver. He learns from his mistakes, and is a quick learner.' Critics dispute the latter point, saying No 10 was painfully slow in spotting and ending the row over 'freebies' for Starmer and his ministers. Starmer's U-turns are not the whole story of his first year in office. The bad headlines they inevitably attracted epitomise how a relatively small number of damaging events can drown out real achievements. The media's maxim that bad news trumps good could also have been written for Starmer's government. Even Starmer's critics acknowledge his strong performance on foreign affairs. The most difficult in-tray of any MP since the end of the Second World War has dominated his first 12 months in Downing Street more than he could have expected. Foreign diplomats say Starmer's serious, grown-up approach has mended fences after the instability of the Tory years, especially with EU countries. The PM has confounded critics who warned that hugging Donald Trump close would not work. Starmer aides are adamant the US president did not sideline him over the bombing of Iran, despite appearances to the contrary. The UK secured the best deal of any country on US tariffs, as well as trade agreements with India and the EU. However, there are few votes in foreign affairs and Labour strategists believe the government's fate will be decided on three domestic issues – the economy/living standards, public services and immigration. True, mistakes have been made on the economy. On taking office, Labour was too obsessed with a revenge mission: in 2010, David Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne pinned the blame for the coalition government's austerity measures on the previous Labour government's overspending. Even though the real cause was the global financial crisis, the public bought it and Labour's economic credentials did not recover until Starmer became leader. So Reeves was determined to blame Labour's admittedly rotten fiscal inheritance on the Tories. In doing so, ministers now admit they overdid the gloom, suppressing business and consumer confidence and destroying the optimism and hope that normally greets a new government. Even after Labour's 'loveless landslide', the party should have been able to capitalise on many voters' relief at kicking the Tories out. Reeves's decision on winter fuel, announced three weeks after the election, was designed to show the financial markets that Labour could make 'tough decisions'. But it was very unpopular and became emblematic; voters judged it odd that this was the first thing Labour did. The long gap between the announcement and the chancellor's first Budget in October prolonged Labour's agony. Its honeymoon, always likely to be short, became even shorter. Although the economy grew by 0.7 per cent in the first three months of this year, Reeves's hope that this meant things were 'turning a corner' may prove to have been premature. Most experts have downgraded their growth forecasts for this year. Job and investment prospects were not helped by her £25bn hike in employers' national insurance contributions. Starmer might now find it hard to move Reeves from the Treasury; the markets wobbled on Wednesday because they feared a more left-leaning chancellor would change her fiscal rules to allow higher borrowing. The prime minister and chancellor now face a nightmarish dilemma as they work out how to fill a black hole estimated at between £20bn and £40bn in the Budget this autumn (including the £5bn of lost welfare savings). The markets don't want increased borrowing. Labour MPs clearly don't want spending cuts. The only other avenue – tax rises – is inevitable, but the options are limited by Labour's manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance for employees, or VAT. While plenty of good things have been done, Labour has often not received much credit – partly because it has not always shouted them from the rooftops. The national minimum wage was raised by 6.7 per cent, boosting the wages of a full-time worker by £1,400 a year. Renters' rights have been enhanced through legislation, including a ban on no-fault evictions. State-funded childcare will increase this autumn, when the first 300 school-based nurseries will open. 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It has provided for 4 million more NHS appointments, and waiting lists have fallen by 5 per cent since their September 2023 peak, to 7.39 million. The number of people who think public services are in a bad state has dropped from 68 per cent in October to 55 per cent, according to More in Common. 'Delivery' is seen by Labour strategists as the best way to combat the growing threat from Reform UK. After appearing to ape Nigel Farage's party, Starmer now wants to go head-to-head against him at the next election. 'We have to be the progressives, fighting against the populists of Reform,' he told The Observer. But the government has not yet delivered in one area Nigel Farage is well placed to exploit – illegal migration. The small boats crisis that bedevilled the previous government now haunts Labour, with crossings at a record high. 'It's very visible; we need to do better,' one loyalist MP said. Starmer hopes closer cooperation with France will soon pay dividends. He will need it to. 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'We haven't always told our story as well as we should,' he told Sky News on the margins of the G7 summit. Although he recoils from 'performative politics', it is his duty to become a better communicator. 'He needs a project, a plan,' one adviser told me. 'He has to learn you can't govern without an agenda. He now needs to pin down what he believes in, what he wants his legacy to be, and what he fights the next election on.' After the welfare debacle, Starmer's government ends its first year looking battered and bruised. It feels much older than 12 months. Labour trails Reform by five points in the opinion polls and has had the worst start of a newly elected government in history. With Starmer's personal ratings dire, it is no longer unthinkable that his party decides he is not the right leader for the next election. The unhappy anniversary week has fuelled such chatter among Labour MPs. His internal critics will look for progress by what will be difficult elections for Labour next May, for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and local authorities, including in London. But, unlike the Tories, Labour doesn't do regicide, and we are not there yet. Starmer has a ruthless streak, and opponents underestimate him at their peril. 'I am hugely competitive – whether it's on the football pitch, whether it's in politics or any other aspect of life,' he told the BBC this week. The PM has been here before: he also had a bad first year as Labour leader. He believes people were wrong to write him off after Labour lost the 2021 Hartlepool by-election, and that they are wrong today. In 2021, he shook up his team, fought back, and against the odds won a landslide. In his next fightback, Starmer again intends to do whatever it takes. But don't expect a fireworks display. He will do it his way.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
It's time to show us that things are going to get better, prime minister
Sir Keir Starmer's first anniversary in No 10 has been marked by three notable stories. He was forced by his own MPs to withdraw his attempt to make savings in the disability benefit bill. His chancellor caused consternation in the bond markets by crying in the House of Commons. And a left-wing party has been chaotically launched by former Labour MPs. Each of those events was laden with significance for a government that is still young, but which has struggled to communicate a sense of purpose after being elected on the vague promise of 'change'. It may have been right to pause the welfare changes, but Labour MPs blocked them mostly for the wrong reason, namely that they see a rising social security budget as a measure of moral virtue. The right reason would have been that Labour failed to prepare for government, and so had no plan for deep reform of the incentives that are driving so many people away from the labour market and onto long-term benefits. The party's instincts, if unchecked, would bankrupt the country. That is why it is probably a good thing that Rachel Reeves survived her 'personal issue' and stayed as chancellor. The idea of Ed Miliband at the Treasury, as was canvassed by some this week, does not inspire confidence that taxpayers' money would be wisely spent. Sir Keir persuaded enough of the voters last year that he would cleave to the centrist virtues of fiscal responsibility, moderation and pragmatism. It would be disastrous if he were to yield any more to the utopians in his party, whose answer to every problem is more public spending paid for by more taxes. That said, however, taxes do need to rise further. It was naive of Sir Keir and Ms Reeves to imply that last year's record tax increases were all that was needed to 'restore stability'. They were reckless in failing to leave any buffer against adverse fiscal trends – trends that have duly emerged and so the chancellor will have to come back for more in the autumn. This is bad, but it ought not to be disastrous. The British people are prepared to suffer pain today for the sake of gain tomorrow, but they do not like being taken for fools. The prime minister and the chancellor should now be open about the need for taxes, and about the hard choices needed to bear down on public spending, but they have to have a credible plan for a better tomorrow. On the cost of living, which is what people care about most, the government has done some of the right things to promote growth. It has talked about rationalising planning laws to get Britain building again, and Ms Reeves has sensibly tweaked the fiscal rules to allow more public investment. Sir Keir can be justifiably proud of the three trade deals he has negotiated, with India, the United States and the European Union. However, the one big growth opportunity, namely rejoining the EU, remains in that compartment of ministerial brains marked: 'What we believe but cannot say.' There is the barest outline of a plan for the NHS, unveiled this week, which is welcome as far as it goes. But there is no plan to stop the small boats, and attempts to clear the asylum backlog seem to be going backwards. Some of this is a communications problem. 'We haven't always told our story as well as we should,' the prime minister said in Canada last month. He then proceeded to demonstrate what he meant by giving a series of long interviews laced with self-pity in which he admitted he did not always read his speeches 'properly' before he delivered them; said that he had not focused on the welfare rebellion in his own party because he was abroad; and that he had not noticed that the chancellor was in tears in the Commons because MPs were asked him questions, 'bang bang bang'. He needs to do better than this. Fortunately, for him and the country, there are some signs that he can improve. He has learned in his first year. His speaking style has become more relaxed, but he now needs to be more disciplined about explaining to people how the government is going to make their lives better. The launch of a Corbyn-Sultana party may make this task easier for him, paradoxically, bringing into sharper focus the unrealistic prospectus offered by left-wing populists beyond a selective compassion for the suffering of the people of Gaza. Our verdict, as Sir Keir passes the one-year milestone of his premiership, is that he is better than his party, and better than any of the alternative leaders who might theoretically replace him. Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting have their strengths, but let us see how many houses are built and how far NHS waiting lists fall before we encourage the Labour Party to imitate the Conservatives in changing prime minister every few years. And if the choice at the next election really will be between Sir Keir and Nigel Farage, that only strengthens our conviction that Sir Keir must learn the lessons of his first year, not only to rewire government to deliver results – but to rewire his relationship with the British people.
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
A year of Keir: the first 365 days of Starmer in power
Sir Keir Starmer is marking his first year in Downing Street after suffering the shortest honeymoon of any prime minister in history, despite winning a massive 411 seats and a working majority of 156. After 365 days of his premiership, Labour is lingering in the polls at 23 per cent, behind Nigel Farage's insurgent Reform UK (28 per cent), and one of the defining images of this government so far may be chancellor Rachel Reeves in tears in the Commons earlier this week. When Starmer took office he promised growth and benefits for 'working people', but his national insurance tax rise has left fewer jobs and an economy that is stagnating. He has, though, pledged a 2.8 per cent increase to the NHS spending budget over a three-year period, amounting to a £30bn rise by 2028. Sir Keir has been a success on the international stage, with three trade deals and a pivotal role in the war in Ukraine and crises in the Middle East. He will have brought defence spending up to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027 and aims to get to 3 per cent in the next parliament. The prime minister has become the 'Trump whisperer', winning over the erratic US president while rebuilding Britain's international relationships and reputation around the globe. Despite the weakness of his position at home, with some in Labour suggesting he could be ousted as early as May next year, he remains the last reasonable option for a leader with fiscal responsibility at the head of a party that wants to take the brakes off spending and raise taxes. But he marked his first anniversary with a significant rebellion, which saw him ditch welfare reforms that would have saved his government £5bn a year, largely on disability benefits. Though Labour won 411 of 650 seats in last year's general election, the party took home a more moderate 33.8 per cent of the national vote on a turnout of just 60 per cent, with some describing it as 'the loveless landslide'. Now, one year later, polls from Techne show that just 23 per cent of voters would opt for Labour in a general election. Yet the past year has seen Reform UK make an unprecedented climb in the polls, at 28 per cent of the vote (according to Techne) – leaving the Tories reduced to 18 per cent. Labour still leads among younger voters, finding favour with 29 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds. But older voters have turned to Farage and Reform, now the first-choice party for a third of voters aged 55 and over. Added to this, confidence in the government is running at an all-time low of just 25 per cent, and Sir Keir's personal net favourability has fallen to a new low of -46, according to YouGov. Freebies and gifts Part of his rapid loss in popularity came when it emerged that Sir Keir, his wife Lady Victoria and a number of senior cabinet ministers had received controversial free gifts. These included hospitality at Arsenal, worth £8,750 per game, for the PM to watch his favourite football team. £39,000 Sir Keir received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses, as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation, from Waheed Alli, the former chair of online fashion retailer Asos. The PM also received a £4,000 ticket from the Football Association to see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium. It also emerged that he had failed to declare a gift of clothes for his wife Victoria from Lord Alli. Mastering the trade deal The UK has negotiated two major trade deals, while a third has come in the form of a 'Brexit reset' with the EU. The UK-India trade agreement was years in the making, but was finally signed in May this year. The deal represents a £25.5bn boost to trade, according to government estimates. Meanwhile, as Donald Trump unleashed tariffs across the world, the UK came out relatively unscathed – a feat that has largely been attributed to Sir Keir's negotiations with his US counterpart. £6.5bn saved By bringing down automotive tariffs from 25 to 10 per cent, and eliminating levies on British cars, the US-UK trade deal is estimated to cut the blow from tariffs in half – from £10.8bn to £4.3bn, according to analysis revealed by The Independent. The tariff on steel, though, remains at 25 per cent and is subject to more negotiations. Voting record In the past year, Sir Keir voted just nine times in parliament, three of which were in the last month. The prime minister has blamed international engagements for his absences. He has weighed in exclusively on welfare, assisted dying, immigration, winter fuel payments and the Budget. By contrast, his predecessor Rishi Sunak voted 22 times in his first year as prime minister. Ups and downs in immigration Sir Keir's Labour can claim a victory in tackling migration, one of its manifesto pledges. This government has in part overseen the largest drop in net migration in recent history, down from 739,000 in the year ending June 2024 to 431,000 in the year to December 2024. At least six months of this period was under his predecessor Rishi Sunak's government, with net migration already dropping from its peak in June 2023. These figures are the lowest in over three years, following spiralling immigration post-Brexit. Net migration is still twice as high as pre-Brexit levels, and far from the 100,000 target set by David Cameron. Small boat arrivals paint a far less optimistic picture. The number of people crossing the channel has increased significantly under Labour, by 34 per cent. There have been around 42,000 small boat arrivals in the year ending 30 June 2025, compared to 31,000 in the previous year, and the figure is on course to exceed the peak of 45,000 in 2022. Sir Keir has already faced eight resignations by ministers, most notably international development minister Anneliese Dodds, who quit over brutal cuts to the UK's aid budget from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent. Two ministers resigned over cuts to disability benefits, while Treasury secretary Tulip Siddiq stepped back amid a corruption investigation involving her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister of Bangladesh. Just weeks after the election, Labour suspended seven MPs who voted against the whip for an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap, while a further 42 abstained. 7 Three MPs – John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana – have still not been readmitted into the Labour fold nearly 12 months later. Ms Sultana has since announced she is starting a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The government's welfare bill, which passed just this week by 335 to 260 votes, faced major criticism for risking a restrictive system that could limit benefits for those who need them most. A total of 49 Labour rebels voted against it. A year of U-turns In 12 months, Sir Keir has reversed or significantly altered his stance on five major political issues. In addition to watering down this week's welfare bill, Sir Keir announced that winter fuel payments will be extended to a further 7.5 million pensioners, after raising the threshold for eligibility early in his government to help fill a black hole of £22bn Ms Reeves claimed to have found in the country's finances. Before the election, Labour promised it would not increase national insurance payments, but then increased employer national insurance contributions by 2 per cent. Sir Keir also finally agreed to launch an inquiry into grooming gangs, after months of deeming it unnecessary and describing those calling for one as 'far right'. He also said that the 'Waspi' women would not receive compensation for the increase in the state pension age, having promised before he was elected that a Labour government would compensate them. Inflation and debt Overall, inflation has gradually increased over a year of Labour governance, landing at 3.4 per cent in May. This is up from 2.2 per cent in July 2024, the month of the general election, leading to concerns about interest rates. Critics have claimed that after the last Tory government brought inflation down to 2.2 per cent, Labour are now beginning to lose control of it again. £2.86 trillion The UK's national debt stands at £2.86 trillion, up by £130bn since the general election, according to the Office for National Statistics. Overall, debt makes up 96.4 per cent of Britain's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the latest figures – up from 95.9 per cent last May. This is despite fiscal rules limiting debt imposed on the Treasury by Ms Reeves. This climbing debt comes with a hefty interest bill, to the tune of £5.6bn a year. An analysis by The Independent earlier this year found that the number of disability benefit recipients in the UK has risen more than other countries since Covid. However, the state spends less on welfare overall compared with other European countries. Nonetheless, welfare spending made up nearly a third (28 per cent) of the Labour government's first Budget, at £303bn, with the majority going towards state pensions and benefits for the elderly population. Working-age benefits alone cost £117.6bn, around 4.2 per cent of GDP, which is more than defence and education spending. At the same time, the UK is the only G7 nation that has seen economic inactivity increase since Covid. It currently stands at 21.3 per cent of working-age people. But economic inactivity has gone down over the first year of Sir Keir's Labour government, from 9.47 million people up to June last year, to 9.19 million people in the latest figures (April 2025). The number of payrolled employees dropped by 115,000 in the last year following the 2 per cent national insurance increase. The UK unemployment claimant count for May 2025 increased on the month and the year to 1.735 million. Female MPs Last July, the UK parliament became the most diverse in British history, in terms of both gender and ethnicity. Four in 10 MPs are women, with 263 female MPs elected across most parties in parliament. 72% The majority of this group (72 per cent) are Labour representatives, with nearly half of all Labour MPs being women (190 out of 403). There are seven female politicians in the cabinet, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and chancellor Ms Reeves.
