LABOUR’S deputy leader has been called out by SNP MP Stephen Flynn after Keir Starmer indicated he would lead his party in a U-turn on their pledge to scrap tuition fees.
Starmer suggested he would drop another of the ten pledges he made during his bid to become Labour leader on Tuesday, telling the BBC it was time to “move on” from the promise.
The SNP capitalised on the Labour U-turn at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
🗣️ 'The Labour Party now with their own Nick Clegg moment don't believe in abolishing tuition fees' MPs jeer as @StephenFlynnSNP opens with a punchy question at PMQs pic.twitter.com/0oJf0LrT1b
— The National (@ScotNational) May 3, 2023
Flynn, the party’s leader at Westminster, asked Rishi Sunak if he would “take the credit for convincing the leader of the Labour party” to drop his pledge to scrap tuition fees.
And after PMQs finished, the SNP MP took to Twitter to continue to take aim at Labour.
Flynn wrote: “Labour really didn’t like my question today, can’t figure out why.”
Alongside that, he shared an image of a tweet from Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner, which she had posted in late 2019.
Labour really didn’t like my question today, can’t figure out why. pic.twitter.com/528HecuerQ
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) May 3, 2023
In the post, which is still live, Rayner wrote: “It's been nine years since the LibDems betrayed students over tuition fees, don't let them fool you again. Labour will be different.
“We have pledged to abolish tuition fees. We mean it, I will be honoured to deliver this pledge in government.”
Social media users have also been sharing more recent video of Starmer himself talking in support of the pledge to scrap tuition fees.
Starmer in 2021: "I've felt very strongly that one thing that benefited me greatly was not having tuition fees... tuition fees is a huge debt for young people they carry with them for a very long time & thats why we rightly committed at the last election to getting rid of [them]" pic.twitter.com/HLIkzTgNrG
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 3, 2023
“I've felt very strongly that one thing that benefitted me greatly was not having tuition fees,” Starmer said in 2021.
“Tuition fees is a huge debt for young people that they carry with them for a very long time, and that’s why we rightly committed at the last election to getting rid of tuition fees."
Scottish Labour have insisted that Starmer’s U-turn does not extend to cover their policy and that they still back having no tuition fees north of the Border.
