Shadow Chancellor rows back on Jeremy Corbyn's pre-election pledge to 'deal with' student debt
John McDonnell has backtracked on Jeremy Corbyn’s pledge to pay off some historic student debt – downgrading it to an “ambition” for Labour.
At the general election, the Labour leader fuelled a huge surge in support among young people by promising help for students stuck with enormous debts from tuition fees.
Pledging to axe fees in future, he told NME magazine: “I don’t see why those that had the historical misfortune to be at university during the £9,000 period should be burdened excessively compared to those that went before or those that come after.
“I will deal with it.”
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But Mr McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor, has now acknowledged the expected bill – around £100bn – is “a lot of money”.
The Greens were the only party to include a similar commitment in their manifesto.
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