Labour all-but scraps election pledge to write off £100 billion student debt
Mr McDonnell admitted he didn't want to promise anything he couldn't deliver
JEREMY CORBYN has been accused of betraying young voters after his Shadow Chancellor all-but scrapped his vow to write off £100 billion of student debt.
John McDonnell downgraded the election pledge by saying a Labour government would “try to” cancel the debt.
But crucially he added: “I don’t want to promise something we can’t deliver”. The Marxist acknowledged the cost of paying off all remaining graduate debt would cost taxpayers about £100 billion and admitted: “It’s a lot of money.”
He said the system is “imploding” and said a Labour government would “look at what we can do” but repeatedly dodged to commit to writing off all debt.
The major shift in position comes just a month after Mr Corbyn graduates at the election that he would help those “already burdened with student debt,” adding: “I will deal with it”.
Education Secretary Justine Greening blasted the Labour leadership for misleading the huge swathes of youngsters who flocked to Labour at the election following Mr Corbyn’s radical spending pledges.
She said: “Jeremy Corbyn and Labour have not been honest with young people. During the election campaign Corbyn promised students he would wipe out tuition fee loans, at a cost of £100 billion.
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“Now his chief lieutenants have u-turned on this commitment and young people will see it as a betrayal.”
“Their position is in chaos, no one knows what they stand for or how they would pay for it.”
“Jeremy Corbyn made promises to the public, students and public sector workers, which we now know they cannot – and will not – deliver.”
Mr McDonnell’s comments mark the latest watering down of Mr Corbyn’s student debt policy in a week.
Last week Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner admitted the cost of scrapping student debt was a “huge amount” and said the party would not go ahead with the move “unless we can afford to”.
In response a Labour spokesman said: "Labour's manifesto pledged to scrap tuition fees from 2018 and write off the first year of fees for students starting university this September, so that no one is priced out of getting a degree.
"During the campaign, we also said we would protect graduates from above inflation interest rate rises on existing debt and look for ways to ameliorate this debt burden in future."