Islington students will be shackled with debt if Labour get their way

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 31st Mar 2004

Islington students have warned that they will be shackled with debt if Labour's damaging plans for top-up fees get the final go-ahead. Liberal Democrat campaigners joined Islington students who were holding ball and chains outside the Town Hall last week to protest about Labour's proposals to allow universities to charge top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year for higher education. Laura Chappell, a postgraduate from Penton Rise in Kings Cross, was there to ask the Executive Member for Education, James Kempton, at the full council meeting what he thought the impact of the Government's plans would be. The Lib Dems warned that top-up fees could be the last straw for Islington students many of who will no longer be able to afford to go to University and are calling on Islington's Labour MPs to step in and join Lib Dem MPs in voting against these plans. Bridget Fox, leading Lib Dem campaigner said: "We have over 40,000 students living or studying in Islington many of whom now face the frightening prospect of a lifetime of debt thanks to Labour. "The Lib Dems will continue to protest alongside local students like Laura against the Government's damaging plans for top-up fees. But if her MP Chris Smith had kept his promise, along with just two other Labour MPs, this Bill would have been defeated and many students and families in Islington would have been saved from the prospect of huge debts. "Since Labour introduced tuition fees, drop-out rates for Islington students have already doubled and top-up fees will put even more pressure onto students. If Labour's plans go ahead many of Islington's brightest students will no longer be able to afford to go to university. "Many people in Islington like Laura feel rightly betrayed by Labour and Chris Smith but it's not too late. I'm urging him to think again, start backing local students and vote against top-up fees when the Bill comes back to Parliament."