THE Labour Party's parliamentary candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale has welcomed Ed Miliband’s announcement that a Labour Government would cut student tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 per year.

The coalition government controversially raised fees from £3,000 to £9,000 per year in 2012 and raised the threshold at which the loan was repaid to when a graduate earns a salary of £21,000.

John Bateson said: “Members of the coalition have attempted to justify the raising of tuition fees by likening it to a graduation tax, but it’s not working.

"Almost three quarters of students will never repay their debt and the cost of this will have to be met by the taxpayer. The government’s own estimates put this at an eye watering £281 billion added to the national debt by 2030-31.”

Currently the average student will graduate with £44,000 of debt.

The cost of the reduction in fees will be met by cutting the tax relief high earners receive on their pension contributions.

At the moment people with incomes over £150,000 get tax relief on pension contributions at a rate of 45% - more than twice that of basic rate taxpayers. Labour will reduce the rate of relief for those with incomes over £150,000 to 20%.

However, Liberal Democrat Minister Ed Davey said his party would block the move if they were in a coalition with Labour after the next election.