No question on who has the next generation’s best interests at heart - Angus Robertson

The number of entrants from Scotland’s 20 per cent most deprived areas fell last year. Picture: Chris Ison/PA Wire | Chris Ison/PA Wire

Asked on another previous occasion by Andrew Neil if he was still committed to abolishing tuition fees, Starmer said: “Yes, that’s why it’s a pledge.”

“On tuition fees,” Starmer said, given another opportunity to talk about the topic, “I’ve felt very strongly that the thing that benefitted me greatly was not having tuition fees. If you come from a background or a family that hasn’t got a lot of money sloshing around – and this would be true of my family – people don’t like to take debt on, and they’re scared of debt.”

Yet again, when discussing the subject prior to the last election, Starmer described the fact he had no tuition fees to pay as “part of the ordinary hope for working-class families”. His passion for abolishing tuition fees is clear. It was a key cornerstone of his Labour leadership bid, after all. “Let’s be blunt: we need to end the scandal of spiralling student debt,” he tweeted.

It surely cannot be true, then, that this is the same Keir Starmer who has not only failed to abolish tuition fees in England but raised them by 13.5 per cent. Having been previously so keen to extend the benefits that his generation enjoyed – to learn without cost – it would be extraordinary if it were the case that he has brought in the measures that mean students studying in England now will have to pay £10,500 in fees per year, up from £9250 last year? Well, that is exactly the case. Galling doesn’t even cut it.

Upon leaving university in England, the average student has already taken on over £48,000 of debt. Student bodies report many have upwards of “60,000 of debt. In the simplest of terms, this is not fair. It’s not fair to young people who want to learn; not fair for young people who want to buy a home; who wish to save for the future; who wish to get the same deal as the millions of us who came before who benefitted from free tuition. That’s why in Scotland, we have done things differently.

Since 2008, Scotland has not charged young people for their university tuition. Choices have to be made about public spending. But giving the opportunity for young people to learn; meet new people; see the world; prepare themselves to be higher-earning contributors to society; or simply expand their interests and minds is something worth every penny.

More to the point, saddling students with crippling debt that takes decades to repay is just wrong. Those studying in Scotland leave university with much less debt accruing only what each chooses to borrow for living costs – on average £16,000. This is a vast difference that impacts the long-term day-to-day spending implications for people who have gone to university.

I know first-hand that children’s and young people’s education is among the first concerns in life of any parent or guardian. Well, when it comes to Keir Starmer’s decisions versus those of the SNP Scottish Government on tertiary education, there is no question who has the next generation’s best interests at heart.

Angus Robertson is the SNP MSP for Edinburgh Central and Constitution, External Affairs and Culture Secretary