Of all the changes that Scottish devolution has brought, surely none can be more infuriating for English taxpayers than the issue of university tuition fees. Last week the Scottish government announced its decision to continue to allow its own students to study free of charge.
That generous concession will also apply to students from the 26 countries that make up the rest of the European Union, with one notable exception. Because of an anomaly in the law, the Scottish government is allowed to discriminate against students from the rest of the United Kingdom, but not from the rest of the European Union.
The result is English students wishing to study north of the border will face annual fees next year of up to £9,000, five times the current annual fee of £1,820. Students from Wales and Northern Ireland will also have to pay more than the Scots. Not only will this make university education in Scotland much more expensive for such students, it will also make it more costly than in England. A typical degree course in Scotland lasts four years, meaning £36,000 in tuition fees, compared with three years and £27,000 in England.
Michael Russell, Scotland’s education secretary, admits that the aim of the new fees, apart from helping to close a funding gap, is to deter English student numbers in Scotland from rising above the current total of about 22,500. “We want to maintain cross-border flows — they’re important to all of us — but none of us should find ourselves in the position of being swamped by others from elsewhere,” he told the Scottish parliament.
Maybe, but there is an important question of fairness here. Although the nationalists always deny it, English taxpayers subsidise Scotland’s public spending, which is 16% higher per head than in England. Allowing Scottish students to continue to study free while charging their English counterparts would be inequitable under any circumstances. Doing it when their parents help to pay for Scotland’s largesse is manifestly so.
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Today we report that Gordon Brown’s government considered changing the law to end this discrimination but bottled it. His fear was that the Scottish National party would present it as an attempt by Labour to rein in Holyrood’s powers. The plan was quietly dropped.
The coalition need have no such qualms. As last week’s Inverclyde by-election reminded us, neither the Tories nor the Liberal Democrats have a lot to lose in Scotland. But the coalition has much to gain from standing up for the interests of British taxpayers and fair play. Holyrood should not be allowed to get away with this discrimination for much longer.