TUC calls on government to abolish tuition fees

The call for a new funding model comes after delegates at TUC's annual congress in Brighton unanimously voted for the motion yesterday. It also commits TUC to demand pay parity between further education and schoolteachers; to campaign for a fully funded national education service; and to produce, by next year's Congress, a TUC report outlining a bold, progressive vision for the service, free at the point of use from cradle to grave.

The motion, For national renewal: a national education service, was proposed by UCU president Maria Chondrogianni. Speaking to the motion, Maria declared: "Post-16 education is facing an unprecedented crisis...one in two universities are making job and course cuts..[and] further education staff are paid thousands less than schoolteachers...UCU members have taken strike action and fought back against job and course cuts but we now need a UK wide approach to address the problems of the sector."

She finished with a rallying cry: "We need to remove the market from education...It is time to build an education service for the many, not the few...free at the point of use from the cradle to the grave."

Backing the motion, UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'The labour movement is now united in our call for an end to tuition fees and a publicly funded education higher education system. The Labour Party must heed the TUC's demand and fix the broken funding model.'