Labour minister: Students should be forced to do community service
University students should be forced to complete 100 hours of community service as part of their degrees under plans endorsed by a Labour minister.
But the National Union of Students said it would lead to a significant hike in the £20,000 average debt currently faced by graduates.
Wes Streeting, NUS president, said: “Astonishingly, David Lammy has consistently refused to give his position on whether top up fees should rise because he doesn’t want to ‘pre-empt the forthcoming review’ – yet he sees fit to pre-empt the review in order to back these barmy proposals.”
Labour election manifesto for civic service
The universities minister has called for Labour’s election manifesto to feature a plan for hiking loan repayments by former students to fund a national community service organisation.
The extra charge could amount to more than £600 a year for students with £25,000 debts.
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said the idea was “barmy”. He added: “It is outrageous for David Lammy to back these proposals, which would essentially force students to pay to be punished.”
Welsh climate protesters join The Wave climate demo
Tens of thousands of people have poured into London for The Wave protest before the start of the United Nations Copenhagen climate summit on Monday.
The Wave has been organised by the Stop Climate Chaos (SCC) coalition, which includes Oxfam, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Women's Institute, Greenpeace and the National Union of Students (NUS). It is also supported by the Co-operative Society.
Climate change the world's greatest challenge, says Brown
The Prime Minister described the climate change challenge today as "one of the great human endeavours of our time".
Gordon Brown joined Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband and UN Minister Baroness Kinnock to answer questions from young people just three days before crunch UN climate talks kick off in Copenhagen.
The event at the Natural History Museum in London involved around 50 young people from organisations including ActionAid, the National Union of Students and the UK Youth Climate Coalition.
Calls for national civic service
Higher education minister David Lammy has backed calls for a national army of volunteers to help the UK economy out of recession.
Meanwhile, university students would be required to carry out 100 hours of community service in recognition of the subsidy the state pays towards their education - estimated at £8,000.