Blair says fees move vindicated

The government won a Commons vote on top-up fees by five votes

New figures showing a rise in university applications "completely vindicated" the move to charge top-up fees, Tony Blair has said.

Critics of the policy to allow universities to charge variable fees of up to £3,000 a year from September were proven wrong, the prime minister added.

Figures from admissions service Ucas revealed a 6.4% rise in applications for the academic year 2007-8.

It follows a drop for 2006-7 when the new fees system was introduced.

None of the fears of critics have come to pass Tony Blair

Speaking at Brunel University in Uxbridge, Middlesex, Mr Blair said: "More than one vice-chancellor has told me that tuition fees have been the saviour of their university.

"Yesterday's university admission numbers, which show a big increase on last year and a rise even of the bumper intake of 2005, are a complete vindication of that policy."

Mr Blair said that although the policy was "clearly right", it had been "very difficult politically" at the time.

The government bill scraped through Parliament in early 2004 with a majority of five, after both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats opposed it.

Many MPs and student activists predicted undergraduate numbers would collapse as potential students were scared off by the huge debts they were likely to build up.

'More information'

But Mr Blair said: "None of the fears of critics have come to pass.

"Applications have not fallen - they have risen. Critics said that fees would deter the poorest students. They haven't.

"As fees rise, the new system offers more grants to the poorest and graduates start repayments only when they are earning enough to do so.

"Critics said that the income from fees would, in any case, be insufficient. In fact, we have halted the decline in funding per student."

But the National Union of Students said further information was still needed to establish how students from "under-represented and debt-averse backgrounds" were responding to the new fees regime.