Ministers face top-up fee rebels

Critics complain poorer students will be put off

The government has been attempting to win over Labour MPs who are threatening to block plans to charge students more for university fees.

More than 130 MPs have signed a Commons' motion against the changes.

Ministers are worried they could face a full-scale rebellion.

They attempted to win over waverers in a debate on Thursday.

Higher Education minister Alan Johnson insists there will be no U-turn on the principal that students should pay more.

But the government is working on ways to offer more help to students from the poorest families.

Mr Johnson told the Today programme on BBC Radio Four that that there was some "onion-peeling" going on - that the government was trying to win over potential rebels - but that the principle of students contributing more would stay.

"We understand the very understandable concerns of colleagues.

"We are trying very hard to bridge the gap for students from poorer backgrounds, but we said in April we would look at this so this is not new."

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson says officials are "clarifying" their policies with potential rebels in the corridors of Westminster - but whether this amounts to concession-making is open to debate.

They are concentrating their efforts on people who are not opposed in principle to higher fees but are worried about the effects on people from low-income homes.

The former chairman of the parliamentary Labour party Clive Soley thinks the government should delay its legislation, which is due to come to the Commons in December.

"If the government rushed into legislation, there would be a real danger of losing.

"If you could demonstrate that you could either through bursaries or by requirement imposed on universities to increase the recruitment from lower income families, it would go a long way to satisfy my anxieties and those of other people."