Results 1-20 of 23 for ("top up" fees) speaker:Charles Kennedy

Debate on the Address: [First Day] (17 May 2005)

Charles Kennedy: ...during last week's press conference at No. 10 he was unusually candid on this matter—the Prime Minister was urging people not to be tempted into voting Liberal Democrat because they might end up with a Conservative Government. If I had been in his shoes—at the end of eight years in office that were buttressed by three-figure majorities, and in the closing stages of a campaign...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (6 Apr 2005)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...other end of the age spectrum, why is it that we are now saddling so many of our young people with thousands of pounds' worth of debt wrapped around their necks because of the policy of imposing top-up fees? The Prime Minister's policy of top-up fees is in direct breach of the pledge that he made in his last general election manifesto, so why should any of us believe any of the promises...

Budget Resolutions — Amendment of the Law (16 Mar 2005)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...year, and that our country must be alert to that competitive challenge. How, then, can it make sense to burden would-be graduates and students in our countries with massive student debts, tuition fees and top-up fees? And then there is the council tax. The council tax is patently unfair. It is worth asking ourselves about it, because there will be a real choice at the general...

Budget Resolutions — Amendment of the Law (16 Mar 2005)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...about a one-year quick fix for the purposes of a general election, like the one of which we have heard this afternoon. As for the position of pensioners generally, we are being very straightforward and up front. According to all the indications and studies, because of greater longevity the oldest pensioners tend to be the poorest. That is why we argue that the over-75s should be a...

Debate on the Address: [First Day] (23 Nov 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: .... I shall deal briefly—given that this philosophical excursion has lasted rather longer than I anticipated—with the other measures in the Queen's Speech and indicate our stance. We support the education measures for 16 to 19-year-olds, which are aimed essentially at part-time students. However, if we had had this legislative chance today, we would of course have legislated, as...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (31 Mar 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...adequately tackle the fundamental financing difficulties of the universities themselves? He has been open enough to acknowledge that there is an alternative, which we have proposed, by which the top 1 per cent. of taxpayers pay a bit more, and as a result, we do not have tuition fees or top-up fees, variable or not. Surely that is a fairer approach.

Prime Minister: Engagements (28 Jan 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...on from the rather rapid rewriting of history that we have just been entertained by, will the Prime Minister revisit more recent history—the outcome of last night's vote on his policy on top-up fees? Looking back to yesterday evening and the events that led up to the Division, does he think that it was decided by the overwhelming merits of the argument or that his close friend and...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (14 Jan 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ..., and when some of us were putting those questions. I would like to ask the Prime Minister about that self-same interview that he gave at the weekend, in which he made a reference to his policy on top-up fees. He described those who would vote against his proposals as carrying out "a complete betrayal of the proper interests of the country". How can it be in the proper interests of the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (14 Jan 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: Not for the first time and, I suspect, not for the last, the Prime Minister has presented a caricature of what we propose. But let us return to his policy on the issue of the day, which is top-up fees. He said in his last general election manifesto that he would not legislate in this way for top-up fees. He has broken that pledge. He is now facing students with the prospect of crippling...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (7 Jan 2004)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...'s dodgy deal between the two of them means that, together, they have sold their souls? We all know that Ken Livingstone disagrees with the Prime Minister on everything from the London tube to top-up fees to Iraq. They are united in their mutual complete and utter chicanery, and the voters are going to see through that.

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (10 Dec 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: Will the Prime Minister confirm his Government's parliamentary answers to the Liberal Democrats that if one were to levy a 50p top rate of tax for every pound above £100,000 of income, that would generate £4.7 billion? As he knows from my letter to him this week, we would use that money to stop tuition and top-up fees, introduce fair grants, deliver free personal care and lessen the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (3 Dec 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: Given that the Prime Minister and Downing street have made it clear on top-up fees that he is prepared to go to the wire, that he is putting his job on the line and that there is no turning back, can he clarify for Parliament whether that means that whenever this vote comes he will regard it as a vote of confidence in his Government?

Debate on the Address — [First Day] (26 Nov 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: ...including Ministers—who feel unable to speak out in public themselves. We should remember the survey recently completed by Barclays bank, which estimates that if the proposals on tuition fees and top-up fees go through, by 2010 the average student who—if they are lucky—gets a degree will have £33,000 of indebtedness wrapped around their neck. In Scotland, where the...

Debate on the Address — [First Day] (26 Nov 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: I am sorry, but I want to conclude my remarks. Obviously, our approach would have been very different. We would not have paved the way for top-up fees. We would have implemented the measure used in Scotland, through which the abolition of tuition fees has been achieved. At the other end of the age spectrum, which is equally important, we would have introduced free personal care for the...

Prime Minister: Engagements (22 Oct 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: On a separate subject, in the previous Labour party manifesto, the Prime Minister explicitly stated: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees". Does he stand by that commitment to the British public?

Prime Minister: Engagements (22 Oct 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: That is a lawyer's answer. The Prime Minister said at the time of the general election that he was against university top-up fees, yet he will legislate to introduce them. Given what he has said and what he now proposes to do, how can the British public trust him or his Government?

Budget Resolutions — Amendment of the Law (9 Apr 2003)

Mr Charles Kennedy: My answer is that what we have proposed at the time of this Budget is—[Interruption.] I will answer the point directly. It was a fair question and I will give a fair and full answer. We are proposing for this Budget that our priority would be for the top rate of tax to go from 40p to 50p for every pound earned above £100,000 per year. That would generate—these are the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (4 Dec 2002)

Mr Charles Kennedy: The Prime Minister has again confirmed that the status quo for university education funding is not an option. Will he confirm that he is saying that top-up fees remain under active consideration by the Government?

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (4 Dec 2002)

Mr Charles Kennedy: People notice, however, that when given the opportunity, the Prime Minister still refuses to rule out top-up fees. Given that the Chancellor, the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Secretary of State for International Development are against them, why does he not look to the Scottish experience, which has kept access to education free at the point of need,...

Oral Answers to Questions — Prime Minister: Engagements (30 Oct 2002)

Mr Charles Kennedy: The Prime Minister said a moment ago that the issue was not top-up fees. Is he saying that he rejects the—[Interruption.]