DUFF degrees will be capped to stop taxpayers being saddled with eye-watering debt, Kemi Badenoch will announce today.
The Tory leader will pledge to restrict places on university courses that fail to deliver good outcomes for graduates – and use the saved cash to fund more apprenticeships.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch will cap duff degrees to stop taxpayers being saddled with eye-watering debt[/caption]
Kemi will also accuse Chancellor Rachel Reeves of peddling a ‘borrowing a tax doom loop’[/caption]
She will use her conference speech to pitch the Conservatives as the party of economic discipline in a bid to boost her dismal poll ratings.
Allies increasingly see the economy as her point of difference with both Labour and Reform.
Ms Badenoch will today vow a “golden rule” that would see a Conservative government use half of all spending cuts to slash taxes, and the other half to pay off the national debt.
Taxpayers currently absorb £7billion a year of student debt written off because graduates cannot repay it.
Taking aim at so-called Mickey Mouse degrees, Ms Badenoch will say: “Wasted money, wasted talent.
“A rigged system propping up low-quality courses, while people can’t get high-quality apprenticeships that lead to real jobs.
“So we will shut down these rip-off courses and use the money to double the apprenticeship budget.
“Giving thousands more young people the chance of a proper start in life.”
She will accuse Chancellor Rachel Reeves of peddling a “borrowing a tax doom loop” that will only push up our debt pile.
Britain currently pays £100billion each year just paying off the interest on our debt – twice the defence budget.
Ms Badenoch – who is third in the polls behind Nigel Farage and Sir Keir Starmer – will say failure to tackle the debt crisis is “stealing from our children and grandchildren”.
