Higher Education Funding

Hannah Spencer Excerpts

Wednesday 28th October 2026 Westminster Hall

[Hannah Spencer (Gorton and Denton) (Green)]

I thank the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Abtisam Mohamed) for securing this debate. Britain has a proud tradition of higher education. Our historic universities, our culture of learning and discovery and the world-class research carried out in this country have earned us a reputation that is recognised around the world. It is an asset that we must celebrate and that we must protect, because that tradition belongs to all of us.

Higher education is so much broader than a three-year degree. Higher technical qualifications, foundation degrees, degree apprenticeships and lifelong learning all have a vital role to play alongside academic study. I left school at 16 and built a career as a plumber and gas engineer through vocational training at Bolton college and, later, apprenticeships, including the Prince’s Trust’s brilliant enterprise programme. I raise this because too often the voices of working people, tradespeople and people who maybe did not get on with school or who just prefer steel-toe cap boots to suits are missing from the debates and decisions that shape higher education.

In the areas I represent, there is no shortage of ambition or of people willing to graft to make something of themselves, but far too many people struggle, through no fault of their own, to see a clear route into secure, well-paid work and a decent life. A strong and accessible higher education system should be part of that route. That system is clearly now at breaking point. Across the country, higher education institutions are facing a deepening financial crisis, driven by years of under-investment and a funding model that is no longer fit for purpose. Universities, specialist colleges and other higher education providers are grappling with a multibillion-pound funding gap, as tuition fee income and public funding have failed to keep pace with their rising costs.

Yesterday, more than 400 students graduated from UCEN Manchester. Many of them were the first in their family to enter higher education, while others were mature learners who had returned to education. Yet providers such as UCEN that specialise in widening participation are increasingly being asked to do more with less, with their funding being steadily eroded.

The consequences of that underfunding are already painfully clear: courses closing, experienced staff being forced out and departments having to make severe cuts just to make ends meet. At the same time, working conditions have worsened for all staff members, with growing workloads, stagnant pay and increasing job insecurity. In vocational education, things have got so bad that institutions cannot persuade people to leave industries like plastering to take up teaching the next generation, because the wages are far below what they are already earning. Students are facing exorbitant fees and the prospect of being burdened by decades of debt.

If we are serious about equal opportunity, we must recognise that higher education is a long-term investment in our people, in our communities and in our country. The inventions and discoveries made by higher education researchers, like the covid-19 vaccines or the development of famine-resistant crops, have the potential to benefit all of us. The Government face a choice in today’s Budget; they can continue papering over the cracks or they can finally make a long-term investment in Britain’s future.

The Green party’s position is clear. Higher education should be free, and students should be provided with adequate maintenance support funded through public investment, not private debt. A 1% tax on wealth above £10 million would raise around £15 billion a year—money that would more than cover the cost of scrapping tuition fees and would give our higher education institutions a vital injection of cash.

Higher education policy must focus on spreading opportunity and investment more fairly across the country in areas like Gorton, Denton, Abbey Hey, Burnage, Longsight and Levenshulme. People from those places have never, ever lacked talent or drive. We must stop wasting it, by properly funding higher education and finally recognising learning for the national asset it is.