Scrapping tuition fees in England is a ¡°majority position¡± in Labour after Jeremy Corbyn¡¯s two leadership victories and ¡°therefore will become policy¡±, according to shadow chancellor John McDonnell.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, Mr McDonnell took a more bullish stance on turning Mr Corbyn¡¯s flagship leadership campaign pledge into Labour policy than his leader has previously.

In February 2016, Mr Corbyn told É«ºÐÖ±²¥ that while scrapping fees, funding higher education by public spending and reintroducing maintenance grants ¨C which he costed at ?10 billion a year in his first leadership campaign ¨C remained his goal it will take ¡°serious debate within the party to achieve¡±.

A policy of abolishing fees could provoke confrontation with some Labour MPs if it commits the party to major additional public spending.

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After appearing at a University and College Union event, Mr McDonnell said: ¡°Jeremy¡¯s been elected twice now as leader of the Labour Party on the basis of scrapping tuition fees¡­Obviously we¡¯ll be consulting about how we do that and the mechanism for doing that; we¡¯ll be looking at how we can fund it. And that will happen over the next six months or so.

¡°But it¡¯s a clear commitment and we want to deliver. It¡¯s still a big issue for large numbers of young people right across the country.¡±

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Mr McDonnell added that, following Mr Corbyn¡¯s ¡°increased mandate¡± in his second leadership campaign in 2016, he was ¡°convinced¡± that scrapping fees is ¡°a majority position within the Labour Party itself and therefore will become policy¡±.

What about a graduate tax? ¡°I think we¡¯ll be more creative than the concept of a graduate tax,¡± said Mr McDonnell.

Asked about record application rates for students from the poorest areas, despite ?9,000 fees, Mr McDonnell said that the figures were ¡°a tribute, really, to the campaigning that we¡¯ve done to encourage working-class kids still to go¡± to university.

But the Brunel University London and Birkbeck, University of London graduate added: ¡°A lot of working-class kids [now] are working throughout term, part time, some of them almost full-time to just get by. And then when they come out, they are loaded with debt.

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¡°It¡¯s more than just crude numbers ¨C it¡¯s about the quality of education you can get, the quality of life that you have [while studying] and the quality of life afterwards.¡±

Some UCU members in the audience gave Mr McDonnell a rough ride over Labour¡¯s perceived lacklustre campaigning for Remain in the European Union referendum and its backing for the government on invoking Article 50, with one saying that the party ¡°failed us¡±.

Mr McDonnell has been criticised by some for saying that Brexit had opened for Labour to ¡°reshape our country¡±.

He told É«ºÐÖ±²¥: ¡°What we have to do now is bring both sides of the country together, because it¡¯s split right down the middle, 52:48 ¨C somehow we have to bring that together...The enormous opportunity it [Brexit] gives the Labour Party is being the only party that can unite the country.¡±

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Mr McDonnell said that there was a ¡°threat¡± in the government¡¯s approach to Brexit to UK participation in the EU¡¯s Erasmus+ programme, as well as to UK universities¡¯ recruitment of continental European students and academics. He said that Labour would ¡°hold the government to account¡± and ¡°mobilise with [the] UCU and other campaigns to put pressure on the government¡± on these issues.

john.morgan@tesglobal.com