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The Lib Dems have a manifesto – but will there be skills wallets?
The Liberal Democrats are the first major party to release a manifesto. Unsurprisingly for a document called For a Fair Deal, the animating idea is the concept of a “fair, free, and open” society.
Running to 115 pages across 22 sections, the manifesto comes with limited costings in a separate document. The vibe is very much worthy rather than splashy – if you were expecting something as attention grabbing as Ed Davey’s media antics you will be disappointed (although he’ll be on a rollercoaster later if you like that kind of thing).
The heavily trailed commitments to carers are present, but of particular interest to Wonkhe readers are the commitments that touch on the world of higher education. Here’s everything we spotted:
A review of higher education finance is planned for the next parliament – committing to review the evidence on the impact of the current system on access, participation, and quality (and ensuring an end to retrospective rate raises and student loan book sales – the latter being something that hasn’t happened for quite some time). International student visas will be reported separately to the main migration statistics. On access, universities will be asked to prioritise work with students on schools and colleges, and for transparency on applicant selection criteria.
The headline retail offer to students is the return of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students. Providers will gain a “statutory duty of care” for students, to include a statutory Student Mental Health Charter. There also will be a return to Erasmus+ (and thus an end to the Turing Scheme?)
Elsewhere we see a commitment to “fund teacher training properly”, ending unpaid trainee posts – and there’s a programme of professional development for all teachers.
The Liberal Democrats promise to invest in education and training more widely, in particular improving the availability of apprenticeships and careers advice for young people. This will be supported by replacing the apprenticeship levy with an expanded skills and training levy. The attractiveness of apprenticeships will be helped by scrapping the lower “apprentice” rate of the National Minimum Wage. It’s not just apprenticeships – the party also wants to expand foundation degrees, HNDs, HNCs, too.
Lifelong Skills Grants are a Liberal Democrat version of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement – the offer is smaller (£5,000 – rising to £10,000 when “public finances allow”) but the funds are a non-repayable grant rather than an income contingent loan. It’s no “Skills Wallets”, but it is there.
In the costings the combination of these grants and the return of maintenance grants is costed at £1,500m.
The party sets a target of 3 per cent of GDP invested in research and development by 2030, rising to an impressive 3.5 per cent in 2035 (just after the end of a second term of government). Participation in Horizon Europe (and, one assumes, successor programmes) will continue, and the UK would also join the European Innovation Council.
Fans of industrial strategies will be pleased to note the return of the Industrial Strategy Council – there’s not much detail as to what industrial priorities might be (though there are vague suggestions around technology, AI, and environmental priorities).
Many students work zero hours contracts, and will be glad to see a 20 per cent higher minimum wage at times of normal demand for workers on zero hours. There’s also tweaks to gig economy contracts, including a new “dependent contractor” status which would allow nominally self-employed workers to access minimum earnings levels, sick pay, and holiday entitlement. This all sits alongside an independent review of the minimum wage, with a view towards turning it into a true “living wage”.
The section on culture, media, and sport notes “slashed funding” for arts subjects at university, though we don’t get detail on that. Neither is there much on a promise to provide Sharia-compliant student finance, tucked away in the section on the economy.