Rishi Sunak was accused of wrecking higher education after it emerged he thinks universities are “full of people who don’t vote Tory”.
The PM – whose latest student loan changes will see 18-year-olds saddled with debt into their 60s – made the comment at a private meeting.
Revealing plans to crack down on degrees with poor career outcomes, it has emerged he told Tory supporters in Bury, Gtr Manchester, last August: “We’ve got to get far tougher on those university courses that are simply not paying their way, because we are spending your money to subsidise these courses, which are not producing the goods for people, right?
“So it’s great news for the universities largely full of, you know, people who don’t vote for us anyway.”
Oxford-educated Mr Sunak made the comments on the campaign trail when he was battling Liz Truss to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative leader.
Now, as PM, his Government has changed student loan funding to cut the state’s contribution from 44p in the pound to 19p from September.
Students will have to pay off their loans from when they earn £25,000 a year instead of £27,295, and repay for a maximum of 40 years, instead of 30.
Under the Tories, higher education funding is forecast to drop to its lowest level in real terms since the 1990s – with at least 15 universities grappling with serious budget deficits.
Labour MP Richard Burgon said: “It’s appalling the richest PM ever is so dismissive about young people who have worked so hard to get into university. It’s the job of the PM to support people from all backgrounds, no matter who they vote for.”
Mr Sunak champions apprenticeships and is widely seen as indifferent to so-called low-value arts and humanities degrees.
He told the Tory gathering at Bury FC’s Gigg Lane ground – held with an instruction that phones be turned off – he wanted to “clamp down on those courses so we can free up money to invest in other things”. A source at the event said: “Sunak’s vibe was basically ‘I just don’t care about students or universities because they’re not going to do anything for me’.”
Dr Richard McCulloch, a senior media and film lecturer at the University of Huddersfield, said: “Even the arts and humanities graduates he loves to attack contribute huge wealth to our economy in the creative industries.
“More than that, however, those degrees teach analytical thinking, communication, empathy, and creative problem solving – skills I wish this Government wasn’t so short of.”
Mr Sunak, who was private-schooled at Winchester College, went on to read politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford. He then took an MBA at Stanford University in California.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “Sunak was able to study philosophy, he should stop trying to deny working class people the same opportunities.”
A Government source said: “The PM believes it is wrong some university degrees saddle students with debt without improving their life chances.
“Universities should not be leaving students worse off as a result of their degree and we are already taking steps to prevent this.”
