WES Streeting has said he would not apologise for Labour moving away from a commitment to ditch university tuition fees.
The shadow health secretary said the public finances are in too much of a “mess”, but insisted Labour would still set out plans for a “fairer funding system”.
He said the lesson from the LibDems was that “you don’t go into a general election making promises you can’t keep”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he would “move on” from his commitment to abolish tuition fees.
The SNP branded it Labour’s “Nick Clegg moment”, referencing the moment in 2012 when the former LibDem deputy prime minister was forced to apologise for breaking his pre-election commitment to oppose increasing student tuition fees.
Speaking to Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Streeting was asked if he was going to apologise for a policy change on tuition fees like the LibDems had in the past.
He said: “I think the important thing is learning from the Liberal Democrats’ experience, you don’t go into a general election making promises you can’t keep.
“We’re not prepared to do that. The truth is the public finances are in such a mess that there are lots of things that we would like to do that, in all honesty, we don’t think we will be able to afford to do.”
Asked if we would say sorry to Labour members who voted for Starmer in the leadership election based on the tuition fees commitment, he said: “They’re Labour Party members and I think Labour Party members totally understand where we are as a party.”
When asked if he would say sorry to people who voted on a “false pledge”, he said: “Well, no. I think people know that in terms of what Keir Starmer stood to be leader of the Labour Party on, the platform he stood on, making Labour electable again, getting us back to power so we can do things, Labour members absolutely support Keir Starmer in that.”
He added: “Look what happened to the Lib Dems. We’re not going to make those mistakes. We will set out plans for a fairer funding system though.”
