He said that the case has not yet been made for the first £3000 let alone more.
Willetts comments came after he told the students that he was misunderstood on the front page of the Evening Standard when it was reported that fees under a conservative government would rise to £7,000.
Willetts said “How would I vote today? I think I would say today, if the vote arose, that the case has not been made. This is not an argument that I believe the universities have won. They haven’t yet properly accounted for the first £3000 they had, so I would say not unless and until you have shown what is in it for students and their parents.”
He also condemned the process of the CBI report which advocated an increase in fees, higher interest rates on loans and a freezing of student numbers.
Willetts said “It is very important that the student voice is heard; in relation to the CBI report, Vice-Chancellors and businesses seem to have got together around a table, at which students were not present, and seem to have agreed that the way to solve the HE crisis is for students to pay more. This is an entirely predictable outcome and underlines why the student voice needs to be heard”.
He also praised NUS and students’ unions saying that “On listening to students, I think that what students have done and the transformation of NUS over the past few years…and the kind of material that NUS put out, is the most powerful single way of making sure that politicians listen.”
He continued “I think that what NUS has achieved in the past few years, as a constructive contributor to the national debate on HE and what you achieve in your individuals unions is something of which you can be enormously proud. You’re concerns are the concerns that we all in politics need to hear.”