Fifty Labour MPs threaten to revolt over top-up fees

Fifty Labour MPs threatened a revolt against the Government over university top-up fees yesterday.

They signed a Commons motion demanding that proposals to allow prestigious universities to charge higher tuition fees be permanently rejected. The move has been ruled out by Tony Blair for the lifetime of this Parliament. But many Labour backbenchers fear it could be left open as an option after the next election in the Government's long-awaited review of higher education.

The MPs' motion registers concern that some elite institutions are making "contingency plans" for top-up fees, which they argue would create a two-tier university system.

"We urge the Government to adhere to its policy of ruling out such charges in this and successive parliaments," it says. The motion has been signed by 50 MPs, including former ministers Frank Dobson, Peter Kilfoyle and Kate Hoey.

Its proposer, Paul Farrelly, said top-up fees would lead to an American-style Ivy League of the most prestigious institutions. He added: "As a matter of principle and policy, we in the Labour Party should not let that happen."

Cambridge broke ranks with other elite universities yesterday by expressing concern over top-up fees. A joint statement drafted by Sir Alec Broers, the Cambridge vice-chancellor, and Paul Lewis, the president of the students' union, said the fees might reduce access to the university for poorer students.

Margaret Hodge, the Higher Education minister, warnedof the financial pressures facing universities. "Do people understand the extent to which universities are in crisis? Probably not. I think if we don't get this right, we'll stop coasting and start declining," she said.

Dons striking for a rise in cost of living allowances accused universities of wasting millions of pounds by keeping "grace and favour" residences for vice-chancellors. The Association of University Teachers (AUT) staged a one-day strike in protest at the freezing of the London weighting allowance for academics in the capital's older universities.

The union says universities and colleges in London are sitting on tied houses – set aside for their vice-chancellors – worth more than £10m.

"I think the public would be amazed to learn that the same people who are telling university staff they can't have any more money to help them with housing have these incredibly desirable residences, given to them free," said Sally Hunt, general secretary of the AUT.

At the top end is the house set aside for Sir Richard Sykes, the vice-chancellor of Imperial College. The house in Queens Gate, near the Albert Hall, is worth more than £1m.

Seven colleges are named by the union as setting aside property worth more than £1m – including King's College, where the vice-chancellor has a penthouse flat on the top of what was the Public Record Office.

A spokesman for King's College said part of the flat had been sold to raise funds for the college and it was worth much less than the £1m suggested.

Lecturers are paid £2,134 a year towards living costs and are seeking an allowance of £4,000.