YOUR report, Student anger over fees (May 22), suggests that the SNP has changed its policy on student funding. In fact, the SNP's policy has not changed at all.
The SNP is fundamentally opposed to the Labour Government's proposals to introduce tuition fees and abolish the student maintenance grant and we will continue to campaign vigorously against the implementation of the type of policy described by Labour's own conference as ''economically inept, morally repugnant, and spiritually bereft''.
However, in the event that the Government presses ahead with its plans in the face of overwhelming public opposition, it is important that the intentions of the SNP are clearly stated.
An SNP Government of an independent Scotland, able to avail itself of our country's substantial resources, will take immediate steps to abolish tuition fees and restore grants to our students.
Anyone who doubts that this is possible would be well advised to look to the example set by independent Ireland. Evidence that fees were discouraging entry into higher education and causing financial hardship among students led the Irish Government to finally abolish tuition fees in the academic year 1996/97.
As far as the devolved Parliament is concerned, an SNP Government will work towards the same end as quickly as resources allow. The financial constraints on the new Parliament will be severe and decisions about the allocation of scarce resources are not made easier by this Government's refusal to publish budget projections beyond 1999.
The SNP - Scotland's party - is proud of our commitment to publicly funded education and we look forward to presenting our fully-costed policies to the Scottish people early next year.
Nicola Sturgeon,
SNP Education Spokesperson,
6 North Charlotte Street,
Edinburgh.
May 25.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article