Alun Cairns
Main Page: Alun Cairns (Conservative - Vale of Glamorgan)(13 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Jonathan Edwards
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, and of course I fully agree. I made that point earlier in a slightly different context.
That measure is a good deal for Welsh students and a good deal for Welsh universities.
Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)
Does the hon. Gentleman not recognise the funding gap between Welsh and English universities, and that the Welsh Assembly Government’s policy is wholly unsustainable and merely a stunt before next May’s election?
Jonathan Edwards
The hon. Gentleman, as usual, is grandstanding. I totally disagree, and the Welsh Government’s proposals last week will not make any difference to the funding gap.
In the lead-up to this debate, I have been happy to sign amendments by Liberal Democrat Members who oppose the fees increases, and I have tabled my own. I congratulate them on their principled stance, but that action needs to translate into voting against the substantive motion in the name of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. To those Government Members who are considering abstaining tonight, I say that abstaining on this issue would be just as good as voting in favour, so I urge them to join us in the Lobby later.