Universities and fees

The Universities in Cambridge play an absolutely critical role in the city, socially and economically. As the MP for Cambridge, it would be an honour to represent both great institutions. However, funding them is under threat, with cuts in research funding under Labour and threats of even greater cuts under the Conservatives. As an active researcher, I see how tight the funding situation already is, with the vast majority of grants never being funded, leading to a futile cycle of effort by academics around the country. According to HEPI, the Higher Education Policy Institute, 'seventy-five per cent of grant applications to research councils are unsuccessful, and the cost of administering these grants may be as much as 10 per cent of the money allocated (and 10 times the cost of research funded by the RAE).' Researchers deserve a more efficient system, which allows them to get on with teaching and research, away from bureaucratic administration.

No to tuition fees; no to top-up fees

Higher education should be provided based on ability, not on financial ability. Sadly, the effect of the fees introduced by the Labour government has been to dissuade people from poorer backgrounds from applying to university, and saddle those who do with very large debts. This in turn pushes students away from careers they may consider worthwhile, and towards careers that will earn enough money to cover their debts. I have been campaigning against fees since I was an undergraduate, and led some of the protest marches when they were first introduced.

I remember Anne Campbell as Cambridge's MP promising to oppose tuition fees, and then voting for them. I remember her saying she meant she would oppose top up fees - which she then abstained on. As Cambridge's MP, I would vote to scrap student fees, whatever they may then be called.