West Cornwall MP Derek Thomas has pressed the Government to write off student loans for the 2020-21 academic year.
Speaking in a debate on University Students: Compensation for Lost Teaching and Rent, Mr Thomas said that the quality and quantity of provision for students since March 2020 had not been maintained, as all MPs would have heard from their constituents.
He said that the Government had “done a remarkable and world-leading job in supporting businesses, families and all sorts of people across the country through the pandemic” but that “surely they can find a way simply to write off the student loans borrowed in 2020-21”.
“It will not solve the whole of the problem, but it is a significant step that will support students and remind them that we are on their side and that we have hope for their future.”
Universities Minister Michelle Donelan responded by praising the resilience of student through the pandemic but that the “the Government have been clear throughout that we expect the quality, quantity and accessibility of tuition to be maintained”.
“We have targeted our financial support to those in hardship and in getting cash into the pockets of those who need it,” she said. “Any loan rebates would not achieve that.”
