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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Rupert Jones

UK minister defends changes to student loans as criticism mounts

Lucy Rigby in a red jacket
Lucy Rigby told the Treasury select committee on Wednesday that student loans are very different from commercial loans. Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Ministers have rejected accusations that recent changes to student loans are unfair, arguing that they are so heavily subsidised that the government has the right to alter their terms.

Pressure has been intensifying on the UK government to reform the student loans system but the chief secretary to the Treasury, Lucy Rigby, told MPs on Wednesday that less than half of young people go to university, and the government had to bear in mind “fairness to taxpayers as a whole”.

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