U-turn MP to continue fees fight

Martin Salter MP says those against fees must continue negotiating

A rebel Labour MP who changed his mind and supported the government over introducing variable tuition fees says he will keep fighting for a better deal for poorer families.

Martin Salter, MP for Reading West, was set to vote against the plans because he believes they are unfair to his constituents who pay London house prices on non-London wages.

But he changed his mind, saying he did not want to hand a victory to the Tories.

After Tuesday evening's vote, which the government narrowly won, Mr Salter said the government had taken a severe blow and should recognise there were a lot of concerns which still needed to be sorted out.

We should continue negotiating, we should continue campaigning for more improvements Martin Salter, MP for Reading West

He said he still wanted a better deal for students from poorer families.

Mr Salter's U-turn came after extra concessions were offered by Education Secretary Charles Clarke, including ministers pledging to examine his concerns during the committee stage of the bill.

Other concessions included an independent review of top-up fees three years after their introduction and a pledge to give legal force in preventing fees rising above £3,000 per year until after at least two general elections.

Mr Salter told the BBC he believes the threshold for the payment of the full maintenance grant needs to be higher than the £16,000 on offer.

He said: "In my constituency in Reading we've got very high house prices, we haven't got the benefit of London wages - although though we've got London prices - and the definition of what is a poor family is substantially higher than in other parts of the country where housing costs are lower.

"We should continue negotiating, we should continue campaigning for more improvements.

"That means we don't kill the bill on Tuesday - it means we seek to improve it during committee.