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Ed Balls: University fees costing taxpayer

Labour has said it wants to cut maximum university fees for students by a third, from 拢9,000 to 拢6,000.

The plan has been criticised by the leaders of universities in England, who say that cutting the fees would only benefit higher-earning graduates, and leave a big hole in university budgets.

Ed Balls told Today: "I totally understand why the universities want to keep the status quo ...but the status quo is not working very well at the minute for the students, the taxpayers, and the government".

"We've seen graduate contributions go up by over 50% ...but it turns out it's costing the taxpayer more, and not less, because almost half the students aren't repaying the fees, because they don't earn enough in their lifetime."

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