His warning came as NUS National Conference 2010 opened in NewcastleGateshead with over 1000 students and student representatives joining forces to elect a new national president and decide policy for the coming year.
Wes Streeting opened Conference with news that over 700 parliamentary candidates have signed the NUS Vote for Students pledge, saying they will not vote for any rise in student fees in the next parliament, including nearly 200 Labour candidates, more than 300 Liberal Democrat candidates and 10 Conservative parliamentary candidates.
Wes also said that
“When people are struggling to make ends meet, it is a travesty that they face such rapidly increasing costs to participate in education, especially in areas like accommodation and hidden course costs. We need to challenge institutions on value for money and stick to our tough line that students in the future simply will not pay more for less, or more for the same.”
“We are determined to hold parliamentary candidates to account, and help students in every constituency to understand which of those candidates is prepared to back student interests on the record, and on a clear promise.”
On the low number of Conservative parliamentary candidates that have signed the pledge, Wes said "For a party with hopes of forming the next government, this is a real let down, and students should rightly draw the conclusion that a Conservative government is ideologically disposed to hiking up fees and represents a significant threat to the millions of students who are looking for real change through a fairer funding system."
Find out what is happening at National Conference live here.